ENERGY RETROFITTING OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS: ENERGY AUDIT OF A CASE STUDY

Italian buildings have high energy consumptions and inadequate thermal comfort quality; as schools crucially contribute to energy consumptions, they need urgent upgrading refurbishment interventions. More than 60% of the Italian schools have been built before 1974; all these buildings have high energy consumptions mainly due to poor envelope energy performances and to poor HVAC systems global efficiency. A Research has been carried out from the University of Florence to assess schools energy consumptions and to develop a strategy for their retrofitting and improvement. In particular, this paper presents the results of the assessment carried out on a school of the Pistoia District; the developed research methodology is composed of the following phases: description of the technology and the typology of the building; finding of accounting documents for energy consumption assessment (bills); thermography analysis of the envelope; on site thermal transmittance analysis of the walls; microclimatic monitoring of some representative rooms; energy simulation with dynamic tools; assessment of the results and retrofitting strategy recommendations for the school improvement.