Investigation of the Energy Saving Potential in Existing School Buildings in Greece. The role of Shading and Daylight Strategies in Visual Comfort and Energy Saving

The overall potential for energy saving in existing school buildings in Greece is considered to be significant. The use of daylight in school buildings has been the subject of study in the past, since the proper use of daylight in schools is liable to improve student performance and to provide energy savings. It is also believed that natural lighting has affected the design of school buildings more than any other building type while the main problem is located on quality rather than on quantity issues. The paper investigates the extent to which the implementation of certain interventions to the building envelope of existing schools, can improve their energy performance and at the same time ensure thermal and visual comfort. A Primary school in the C climatic zone is used as a case study in order to examine energy performance and daylight issues for a relatively new school building with unfavorable orientation. The effect of alternative interventions such as the implementation of thermal insulation, the use of ceiling fans, the implementation of external shading, and the improvement of thermal characteristics of openings are being examined. The evaluation is performed using appropriate energy performance and daylight simulation tools.