Energy efficiency in school buildings? How to use in a successful way the triple bottom line framework?

Abstract

The energy consumption must be reduced and must become more sustainable. Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) with the help of a facilitator and an Energy Service Company (ESCO) can broaden the project scope and prolong the time horizon for (public) buildings, in order to come to successful projects. However now there are not so much good practices in (public) buildings, as the ESCO are not well known and lack the confidence of the market. In this paper, we discuss the association of schools in Sint-Niklaas. The benefit of the energy coach became clear. The complexity and uncertainties of the EPC ensure that communication between the various parties in the schools, facilitator and ESCO plays a crucial role. In order to explore the potential for energy efficiency (EE), a calculation tool has been developed for the cluster. We can conclude that even though not all chosen investments lead to a positive Netto Present Value (NPV) for some schools, the cluster itself still can have a positive NPV. The developed tool is also very useful to calculate all related benefits (CO2-reduction, energy savings, cost reductions,). In addition, it facilitates and clarifies the differences with other energy efficiency investments.