In school buildings, especially learning spaces, good daylight and thermal conditions are important to promote the educational process, as unsatisfactory comfort levels can reduce physical and ...intellectual performance for both teachers and pupils. However, achieving successful classroom designs is rather complicated, as it requires the balancing of various interrelated factors, which is particularly challenging for hot and dry climates. In recent years, major improvements have been made in building optimization methods, and genetic algorithms used to search for high performing design solutions have shown their efficiency in solving such complex problems. This study shows how such an approach can be applied to optimize the thermal, lighting and energy performance of a middle school classroom in a hot and dry climate. Using a parametric approach and evolutionary multi-objective computation via Octopus plug-in for Grasshopper, various windows-to-wall ratios, wall materials, glass types, and shading devices were combined, to derive potential solutions that achieve a good balance between daylight provision and thermal comfort, while ensuring low energy consumption. The results show that improvements in useful daylight illuminance, adaptive thermal comfort and energy efficiency could be achieved through modification of building envelope parameters. Solutions for different building orientations are explored, providing recommendations for window-to-wall ratios in school buildings in a hot and dry climate. The results demonstrate how an optimization methodology can be used in the early stages of the building design process to understand how the building envelope can be tailored to ensure good building performance, both in terms of comfort and energy performance.
•A parametric optimization approach was used for climate based classroom design.•Window-to-wall ratios are proposed for hot dry climates, considering orientation.•Large window ratios (30–60 %) may be feasible, with suitable glazing and shading.•The study results can help to design classrooms in hot and dry climates.•The described methodology can be used to establish window design guidelines.
•A multi-parameter method to assign schools’ affordable retrofit is established.•60% primary energy and 42% global cost reduction potentials are recorded.•Comfort conditions can worsen though the ...cost and energy consumption are reduced.•Various parameters are crucial to determine an applicable retrofit scenario.•Being in the cost-optimal range is not making an action reasonable.
The majority of the buildings was built before the energy efficiency prospering in the construction sector. Hence, they are consuming an enormous energy amount that can be preserved considerably by applying some not even advanced retrofit measures. Schools' low budget is a problem that managers are encountered. Thus the high retrofit cost can prevent taking proper actions. However, considering the measures leading to higher energy efficiency with appropriate cost and payback period, together with taking the lifespan of buildings and the economic benefits during this extended period, would make the actions attractive. This research aims at defining a multi-parameter approach to distinguish energy efficient measures with proper cost, payback period and CO2 emission for primary school buildings’ retrofit. It is following the concept of cost-optimal building retrofit introduced by the EPBD-recast. To assess the proposed approach, two typical school buildings were considered as case studies, the model was created and validated by real consumptions, and then some measures were applied to the envelope, mechanical and lighting system. After driven cost-optimal measures, the comfort analyses were conducted and some of the measures were excluded due to worsening the comfort conditions. The results indicate that, in the suitable cost-optimal scenarios, the potential of primary energy savings and CO2 emission reductions are approximately 60%, and savings for global cost would amount to more than 42%, while the payback periods are less than seven years.
Building green retrofit offers significant opportunities for enhancing energy efficiency and achieving green development goals. However, a conflicting criterion exists between energy conservation and ...thermal comfort improvement when making optimal design solutions for building retrofit. This study presents a simulation-based energy-comfort optimization model to facilitate evaluating various design alternatives and balancing multiple objectives in building green retrofit. A building simulation model is first established to measure energy consumption and comfort level. Then, a multi-objective optimization method (response surface method) is employed to identify critical building parameters and generates a set of alternative plans for building retrofit based on green building standards. After that, optimal design solutions with trade-offs between thermal comfort and energy demand are obtained. A school building in Wuhan city of China is chosen as a case to validate the developed model, and ten building parameters pertaining to energy demand and environmental comfort are considered in the optimization process. The results show that four parameters are significantly sensitive to energy efficiency and thermal comfort, including insulation thickness of the external wall, the heat transmission coefficient of the roof, solar heat gain coefficient of the external window, and window to wall ratio. The optimal combination of four parameters approximately produces 4 % of energy savings, as well as an improving level of environmental comfort. The study benefits designers and construction managers to determine optimal solutions for building retrofit to achieve better energy efficiency and comfort in green building development.
•A simulated-based energy-comfort optimization model is developed for building green retrofit.•Sensitive parameters influencing energy consumption and thermal comfort are identified.•A school building in China is chosen as a case to validate the developed model.•Multi-objective optimal solution for building green retrofit produces 4 % of energy savings.•It contributes to designers' decision-making and promoting green building development.
In educational buildings, ensuring thermal comfort is crucial in guaranteeing pupils' health and high learning. Previous studies show different thermal comfort expectations in the educational stage. ...However, only a few studies have simultaneously investigated all educational stages and considered schools and universities in different areas. In this study, data collected from 24 classrooms in the winter and 1548 questionnaires were used to analyse all the educational stages in one region, thus minimising the possible bias associated with the climate zone, operation mode, and cultural adaptation. Hence, all differences in the perception of the thermal environment were likely to be due to only the educational stage. The results showed that adaptive capacities, such as clothing insulation and window operation, decrease at lower educational stages. Neutral, comfort and preferred temperatures are largely dependent on the educational stage and increase with it (e.g. 20.6, 21.7, 23.1, and 23.6 °C for primary school, middle school, high school, and university, respectively). Furthermore, a linear relationship between students’ age and neutral temperature was derived. These differences in thermal comfort expectations were reflected in the variable predictive capability of the predicted mean vote (the greatest difference between predicted and actual thermal sensations in primary school). Overall, this study provides evidence of the necessity for thermal comfort models that can capture variations depending on the educational stage.
•Studied influence of educational stage on students' thermal comfort in classrooms.•1548 questionnaires were collected during winter.•Different adaptive capacities of the students at each educational stage.•Neutral, preferred, and acceptable temperatures increase with students' age.•The observed differences should be considered in predictive models and standards.
This article concerns the design and architecture of educational facilities in Poland. It presents selected architectural and spatial solutions for modern primary school buildings. The article is ...based on a juxtaposition of two school buildings built in the second decade of the 21st century, located in the central and southern part of the country. Contemporary buildings were selected to draw attention to the changing approach to design and the development of architecture dedicated to the youngest recipients, emphasizing important aspects of the school space in the era of growing demands and social awareness. The analysis of the buildings indicated in the article was carried out on the basis of the available literature on the subject, comparison with typical buildings in Poland, and in situ research in school buildings, with an emphasis on the key aspects of the functional and spatial arrangement in the presented facilities, determining the target educational space for students. A school building in Poland, in the minds of many architecture recipients, is associated with a typical building, such as 'millennial schools', created as part of the campaign to build a thousand schools - monuments related to the celebration of the Millennium of the Polish State. The typification period, abounding in many buildings that still function to this day, lasted almost twenty years until 1981, when the standard for typical schools was repealed. At that time, the search for the perfect form of the building as well as flexible and functional school spaces, tailored to the scale of the youngest recipients, began. The classroom, which used to be the only condition for the functioning of the school, turned out to be insufficient. Modern projects have started to be implemented, which systematically contribute to the creation of a new image of the school as a friendly and modern institution, maintained in an optimal and holistic development-oriented educational environment.
This paper presents a heuristic model predictive control (MPC) methodology to activate energy flexibility in fully electric school buildings in cold climates to reduce electricity demand during peak ...demand periods of the electric grid. To streamline the implementation of MPC, the proposed approach employs grey-box archetypes, a clustering of weather conditions to identify typical scenarios and a limited number of possible setpoint profiles. A data-driven grey-box approach is used to create archetype models for different thermal zones in a typical school building; this approach enables rapid development and requires much less calibration data than black-box models. A third-order resistance-capacitance thermal network for zones with convective heating and a fourth-order model for zones with radiant floor heating are developed and calibrated using measured data from an all-electric school building in Québec, Canada. The weather data are clustered into several categories, representing different weather conditions (6 clusters representing two ambient temperature ranges and three solar radiation ranges). The heuristic MPC strategy uses predefined optimal setpoint profiles for each cluster and weather prediction one day ahead to shift the building load from on-peak to off-peak hours. For each heuristic MPC scenario, the model runs a simulation using forecast weather data to quantify and activate energy flexibility in response to grid requirements. The developed MPC framework was implemented in the school used as the case study. Ten classrooms are investigated, with six using the MPC and four as a reference case with the reactive control system and default zone setpoint profiles. Results indicate that the school building can provide between 47% and 95% energy flexibility (load shifting relative to reference) during on-peak hours and up to 44% electricity cost reduction while satisfying acceptable temperature constraints. By implementing the proposed MPC, energy flexibility of 32 W/m2 of floor area for the zones with a convective heating system and 65 W/m2 of floor area for the zones with radiant heating can be achieved during a demand response event. The proposed strategy can be generalized and replicated in other school buildings.
•A model predictive control methodology for school buildings was presented.•The methodology was applied to a fully electric school building near Montréal, Canada.•Data-driven grey-box models were developed and calibrated using measured data.•The model predictive control provided between 47% and 95% energy flexibility during on-peak hours.•The model predictive control reduced the cost of electricity by 44%.
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