Analysis of the energy performance strategies of school buildings site in the Mediterranean climate: A case study the schools of Matera city

Abstract Energy consumption of the public building stock represents an important cost of the balance of a state. Moreover, public buildings, in particular schools, should be buildings with elevated comfort levels because student and teachers spend much time in these rooms. The wellness and productive capacity of students and teachers are primarily affected by the comfort inside and air quality of school rooms. Regarding energy use, school buildings waste much energy because most buildings were constructed before the 1991 and energy saving measures were only implemented in a few schools. This paper analyses the energy performance of eight different schools located in Matera city, southern Italy. The aim of this research is to analyse energy requirement utilizing dynamic analyses with a time step of one hour (using Energy-Plus method). Next, the values of the dynamic analyses were compared to the effective energy consumption. Using the results of this comparison, we validated the numerical model, and then, we analysed different energy auditing actions for these buildings. We included the energy auditing works in three categories: energy restoration of the envelope, of the plant and of both. For each of these categories, we calculated the energy savings. Ultimately, we analysed the environmental benefits of the three different categories in terms of CO2 reduction. This research confirmed that the dynamic method is the best method to achieve a good energy analysis of these complex buildings.