Energy and Buildings 72 (2014) 816

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Energy and Buildings

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Analysis of structural elements and energy consumption of school

building stock in Cyprus: Energy simulations and upgrade scenarios of
a typical school
M.C. Katafygiotou , D.K. Serghides
Cyprus University of Technology, Department of Environmental Science and Technology, 33 Anexartisias Str, 1st Floor, 3036 Limassol, Cyprus

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 5 October 2013
Received in revised form 4 December 2013
Accepted 20 December 2013
Keywords:
Building stock
Energy consumption
Typical secondary school
Energy simulations
Retrotting

a b s t r a c t
Structural and energy consumption details from the secondary school buildings of Cyprus are presented
in this paper. The study identies the prevailing building practices in schools construction in the three climatic zones of Cyprus, coastal, inland and mountainous. Furthermore the construction details of schools
are compared with their energy consumption. In this questionnaire survey 24 schools were responded
with a completed prole and represent the 15% of schools and through further interviews and in situ
visits more data are collected from a percentage of 60% of the secondary schools in Cyprus. The analysis
through questionnaire results conclude to signicant ndings which are very revealing and may be used
as a preliminary study on energy upgrading of schools.
Furthermore through a statistical study the construction details of the mean typical secondary school
building in Cyprus are also derived. A case study with simulations for the energy performance of a representative typical school building is also developed. Variables of the building elements are examined
through parametric simulations using the software iSBEMcy. This is the ofcial governmental software
used for the categorization of energy efciency in buildings and the calculation of CO2 emissions according
to the European Directive 2002/91/EC. Based on the energy categorization of the building six retrotting
scenarios are studied in simulations.
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The European Union considers climate change as the greatest long-term challenge facing the human race. It is therefore its
priority to reduce the carbon dioxide concentrations, which are
one of the main contributors to the climate change. The sustainability in the built environment is based on three pillars: sustainable
materials and construction, sustainable energy use and waste management [1]. Public and commercial buildings in Europe consume
an estimated 40% of the total energy [2]. It is impossible to improve
this state without an energy efcient renovation of the existing
buildings [3]. To achieve this objective and evaluate possible scenarios for intervention, it is necessary to document the existing
situation in the building sector. For this reason, an extensive campaign in secondary school buildings of Cyprus is carried out. School
buildings constitute a rather particular category of buildings. The
running costs for heating, cooling and ventilation are the main
costs in schools. Indoor air quality, energy efciency and thermal

Corresponding author. Tel.: +357 25002195; fax: +357 25002840.

E-mail addresses: martha.katafygiotou@cut.ac.cy,
katayiotou martha@hotmail.com (M.C. Katafygiotou).
0378-7788/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.12.024

comfort conditions are the three main aspects that affect the
building environment [4,5]. Furthermore schools provide the
opportunity to promote building energy efciency for tomorrows
citizens in the most effective way. In many countries this kind of
energy rehabilitation of existing, large (more than 1000 m2 ) public
buildings, is best suited for the implementation of European Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) [6].
Energy performance rating and certications are required as part
of the EPBD implementation, as stated in Article 7. As mentioned
in Article 9 of the Directive, in buildings with a total oor area over
1000 m2 that are used by public authorities and institutions providing public services to a large number of people, a valid energy
performance certicate must be placed in a visible from the public place. Therefore since the methodology of this paper is based on
the EPBD directive the energy performance certicate of this school
will act as exemplar in order many public authorities to start rating their buildings and raise the public environmental awareness.
This study and similar ones will boost more and more the awareness and sensitivity of all those that are involved in the building
process: owners, consumers, public bodies, construction industry,
project design industry. Such studies lead the policy makers to the
right decisions, for actual improvements regarding the energy performance of schools in order to provide the rst examples of nearly

M.C. Katafygiotou, D.K. Serghides / Energy and Buildings 72 (2014) 816

zero energy buildings according to the new directive 2010/31/EC.

This effort will also aware the young people who are the future
active citizens and next policy makers of the European Union.
Based on the EPBD the energy rating of a building is determined
either through a calculation model starting from building known
features (forward approach) [79] or to assess the energy use from
energy meters (inverse approach) [10,11]. Therefore benchmarking
standards for the energy performance of schools already exist in
many EU countries [1214]. Several studies are also examined concerning the typical yearly heating use in school buildings [12,13,15].
An investigation in Italy states that there is a considerable amount
of oil consumption that can be signicantly reduced if appropriate energy saving techniques and renewable sources are used [16].
Countries such as the UK for almost 30 years are producing studies and energy performance guides [17]. School sector consume
high energy amounts for heating and electricity and therefore the
energy saving measures are vital. An average of 13% of the total
energy use in USA, 4% in Spain and 10% in the UK is consumed by
schools [18].
The real consumption of the school buildings through the
monthly bills is evaluated and compared with their construction
characteristics. The results of this study conclude that the annual
average consumption of schools is 62.75 kWh/m2 . Comparing these
results with the international literature it seems that Cyprus has a
relatively low power consumption compared with other countries
in central and northern Europe. In Slovenia the average consumption for heating in schools is 100 kWh/m2 and the average total
energy consumption is 192 kWh/m2 /year [19]. In Ireland investigations in schools showed that consumption for electricity is between
5 and 35 kWh/m2 and for heating is between 50 and 200 kWh/m2
with an average consumption for heating at 96 kWh/m2 [14]. In
Germany a study of 105 schools showed that the nal energy consumption in these schools ranges from 31 to 205 kWh/m2 /year
with average value of consumption the amount of 93 kWh/m2 /year
[20].
Comparing with Greece where the climatic conditions are
similar with Cyprus energy consumptions is relatively close.
The average annual energy consumption in schools in Greece
is estimated at 92 kWh/m2 [21]. In 2006 the team of Santamouris et al. [12], published a study using data from 320
schools. Mean consumption for heating is 68 kWh/m2 /year and
mean electricity consumption is 27 kWh/m2 /year. In the survey
of F. Vagi & A. Dimoudi in ten elementary schools in Euros in
Greece the average consumption is 79.82 kWh/m2 from which
71.18 kWh/m2 is required for heating and 8.64 kWh/m2 for electricity [22]. In the research of Elena G. Dascalaki & Vasileios
G. Sermpetzoglou which is published in 2010 the energy consumption is categorized per climate zone [23]. In zone A, which
is equivalent of the coastal areas of Cyprus the average total
energy consumption is 49.5 kWh/m2 /year. In B zone climate
characterizes inland areas and the total energy consumption
corresponds to 57.1 kWh/m2 /year. In climatic zone C which is corresponding in northern Greece the consumption is higher, up to
90.8 kWh/m2 /year.
The scope of this research is initially to identify the prevailing
building practices of schools in Cyprus. The average energy consumption for heating and electricity is calculated and the typical
secondary school building in Cyprus is derived. This is the rst
research where the school stock of Cyprus is recorded and the
energy efciency of such buildings is studied. The conclusion to the
typical school building of Cyprus will provide useful information for
future studies.
A representative example building will be examined in this
study in order to calculate through simulations its energy performance. This study provides useful information concerning the
energy categorization of schools. Efcient refurbishment scenarios

are also investigated in order to conclude to the most appropriate

strategies and techniques to reduce energy consumption in schools.

2. Methodology
A questionnaires campaign is carried out in all secondary
schools of Cyprus in order to dene the most common structural
practices in the three climatic zones and moreover to derive the
average energy consumption of schools. The aim of this survey was
to dene the typical secondary school in Cyprus and present the
most commonly applied constructional techniques, building services, electricity and oil consumption, etc. The questionnaire is
divided in ve sections. The rst one is the general information
of each school, e.g. name, location, number of users, etc. The second part concerns the structural data of schools. Age of school,
area, number of oors, shape, orientation, and envelope details
are some of the data that collected in this section. In the third
part, data about the building services and equipment of schools
are selected; heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, and buildings
devices are described. In the fourth section the energy consumption
of schools for the last three years is requested. All the responded
schools attached also the actual bills for electricity and heating oil.
The nal part of the questionnaire exams the participants knowledge regarding the latest energy directives of the European Council,
the energy performance certicate and their willingness for energy
upgrade of their school.
Questionnaires are sent to all 156 secondary schools of the
island. Initially 24 schools are responded back with completed
questionnaires. These questionnaires are answered by the schools
managers. More data are selected through in situ visits in more 33
schools. Our research team lls the questionnaires after in eld
inspection and interviews with the managers and the technical
staff of schools. Telephone interviews with 67 more schools are followed and the most important data are recorded. A percentage of
almost 25% of school and specically 41 schools did not respond
in the survey. Signicant was the contribution of the Technical
Services Department of Education and Culture Ministry of Cyprus
that provide us with missing information about the school building
stock. It has to be mentioned that no statistical data are existed in
Cyprus about the public buildings and especially schools. Statistical
Service of Cyprus provides data only concerning the housing stock.
Therefore this is the rst time where the school building stock is
recorded in Cyprus.
The study continues with the statistical analysis of the survey
results. The most common structural techniques and building services systems that are used in secondary schools are dened and the
average values of the energy construction are calculated. The aim of
the data collection was to set the benchmarks for the typical and reference secondary building school in Cyprus. Therefore the typical
Cypriot school is derived and it consists with the most commonly
applied techniques, the most common building services systems,
etc. The average values of energy consumption in schools are also
calculated through the statistical analysis of the questionnaires.
Following the questionnaires, a representative school building is selected which consist all the characteristics of the typical
school building. A case study with energy simulations is carried out
in order to dene the energy performance of the representativetypical school building. The building design and specically its
construction characteristics are selected through eld inspections
and are examined through parametric simulations using the software iSBEMcy. This is the ofcial governmental software used for
the categorization of energy efciency in buildings and the calculation of CO2 emissions according to the European Directive
2002/91/EC [6,24]. The software calculates the energy consumption
of the building and concludes to its energy performance certicate

10

M.C. Katafygiotou, D.K. Serghides / Energy and Buildings 72 (2014) 816

which states the energy categorization of the building. All the European member countries have similar softwares in order to examine
the energy classication of their buildings. Energy rating of a building can provide useful information on its energy consumption and
its performed through standard measurements under a specic
experimental protocol.
The energy auditing on the building under study investigates
the aspects which affect its energy efciency and its conservation. Initially the simulations conclude to the energy consumption
of the existing building. As energy consumption of a building is
affected from its construction elements alternative strategies and
techniques for energy efciency must be used to create a comfortable indoor environment which at the same time will achieve
energy conservation. Therefore based on the energy categorization
of the building six retrotting scenarios are studied in simulations.
The ve scenarios concern the building insulation, the windows
replacement and scenarios for the operation of heating and cooling
systems and the last scenario simulate the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof of the school. Following these and through
comparative studies the optimal scenario for energy conservation is
concluded and the most energy efcient techniques are presented.

3. Schools building stock

Cyprus has 156 secondary schools, of which 120 are public and
36 private schools. The 57% of these are located in coastal areas,
37% is in the inland zone and 6% in the mountainous areas. In all
secondary schools during 2011 are enrolled 64,611 pupils, 7693
teachers and 1547 people of administrative staff. The number of
pupils ranges from 200 to 700 in each school depending on the size
of school.
Schools are daily open between 7:30 a.m. and 13:35 p.m. for
pupils. The teachers and the administrative staff are working until
14:30 p.m. every day. Consequently schools have as an average
seven operating hours per day. Furthermore it is important that
schools are open from the beginning of September until the end of
June for pupils with a break of fteen days during Christmas and
Easter respectively.

3.1. Construction characteristics of schools

Several data of the examined sample are described in this section. The examined sample of school buildings includes a variety
of morphological and architectural characteristics. The construction details provide information about the techniques which are
followed in different chronological periods since each period is
characterized by different inuences especially in the architectural
sector. In this study, the chronological categories are divided into
four main periods. The rst category is prior 1974. The second category is between 1974 and 2000. The third category; between 2000
and 2007 and the fourth after 2007. It is important to mention that
at 2007 the regulation for buildings insulation applies for all the
new buildings. There is another chronological separation from 2010
onwards where Cyprus in line with the directive 2002/91/EC on the
energy performance of buildings, however since there is no available stock of schools that have been built according to the latest
regulations this period is excluded. As it is observed from the survey most schools in Cyprus are built before the establishment of
thermal insulation regulations. Most of them are built before 2000
or even before 1974 and this is expected to have insufcient energy
proles.
The height, the shape and the orientation of the school buildings
directly inuence their energy behavior. Concerning the height of
the buildings; most of the schools are consist of 2 oors with typical

Table 1
Average building components of school buildings.
Climatic zone

Inland

Coastal

Mountainous

Year of
construction
Orientation
Shape
Corridor
Roof

19742000

19742000

Prior 1974

South
Shape

External
Horizontal

North
Rectangular
External
Horizontal

Windows
Walls
Envelope
insulation

Single
Bricks
No

Single
Bricks
No

Northeast
Shape
/rectangular
External
Combination (horizontal and
inclined)
Single
Bricks and traditional stone
No

oor height 33.5 m. Only in few cases of older buildings the height
of oors is above the average and stands up to 5 m.
The density of pupils and the equipment in classrooms directly
affect the internal gains and the indoor comfort. The average area
of a classroom is 46 m2 and the density ranges from 2 to 3 m2 /pupil
which is satisfactory based on ASHRAE standards [7]. Specically
the average area for each pupil in the classroom is 2.03 m2 /pupil
while in the entire school building is 8.56 m2 /pupil. The rectangular
and the II shapes are the most frequent in school buildings.
North is the prevailing orientation in school buildings and the
south and the east orientation are following. West orientation is
not preferred except of individual cases with Northwest or Southwest orientation. Furthermore all the schools in the sample have
outside courtyards. Usually a large part of them is surrounded by
the school buildings and therefore atriums are often created. The
main corridors of schools are divided into internal and external
ones. There are also some schools that have both types of corridors.
The outside corridors enhance natural ventilation and air changes
in the classrooms during summer but have increased heat losses
during winter if the building envelope is not insulated. In Cyprus
the outside corridors are often seen at schools.
The 83% of school buildings consist of horizontal roofs. Pitched
roofs with tiles are mainly found in the mountainous areas of the
island. This happens in order to remove the snow during winter.
Regarding the thermal shield of the envelope, with only one exception among public schools which was built after 2007, all the other
schools have single glazed openings. A similar condition also occurs
about insulation. Most schools have no insulation and only in few
cases schools are partially insulated. Only one school of the whole
sample is insulated both on roof and walls. The walls of the schools
are consisted mainly from bricks and in case that are insulted a 5 cm
of extruded polystyrene is usually used. All the information about
the average buildings components is presented in Table 1.
Further analysis of the sample concludes to the average thermal
resistance of the building envelopes. The typical construction of
walls, roofs, oors and openings are studied and the usual the average thermal conductivity of the building components is derived and
presented in Table 2. These values are compared with the U-value
limits from the Cyprus legislation which is according to the European Directive 2002/91/EU for energy performance of buildings
[6].
3.2. Building services of schools
Building services usually are the main consumers of energy.
Heating, ventilation and air-condition systems (HVAC) are responsible for a considerable amount of energy consuming in school
buildings and therefore heating oil and electricity are the main
operating costs for schools. In Cyprus, as it is shown from this
survey; all schools have central oil heating system for winter and
almost all school areas are heated excluding stores and restrooms.

M.C. Katafygiotou, D.K. Serghides / Energy and Buildings 72 (2014) 816

11

Table 2
Thermal conductivity of the buildings components.
Building envelope
External walls
Ground oor
Horizontal roof/exposed oors
Windows

Components structure

Insulated [YES/NO]

U-Value [W/m2 K]

U-Value limits from Cyprus legislation [W/m2 K]

Brick
Concrete
Reinforced Concrete
Reinforced Concrete
Single glazed with aluminum frame

NO
NO
NO
No
NO

1.371.39
33.5
0.60.8
23.5
67

U 0.85
U 0.85
Minimum value does not exist
U 0.75
U 3.8

Table 3
Electromechanical systems in schools in each climatic zone.
Climatic zone

Inland

Coastal

Mountainous

Heating system
Cooling system
Hot water system
Lighting
Devices with Energy star

Oil central heating

Split units
No system
Fluoresces
Yes

Oil central heating

Split units
No system
Fluoresces
No

Oil central heating

Split units
Oil heating
Fluoresces
N/A

Schools have central thermostat which is adjusted daily by the

school manager or the maintenance employees. Heating systems
are very old in most of the schools. Most schools have split units
for cooling and are installed only in the staff ofces and never
in the classrooms. Exceptions are the private schools which have
installed split units for cooling in mostly all the schools areas.
In the most cases in order to control cooling system, thermostats
are autonomous in each room. Through the answers of the questionnaires it seems that the cooling systems are younger than the
heating systems and most of the split unit systems for cooling in
schools have energy classication A or B. Also occasionally during the winter time split units operate for heating purposes. In
almost the half of the sample schools, hot water system is installed
but only few schools have solar panels for water heating and the
most schools have oil central heating or electricity heaters for hot
water use. Concerning illumination, all schools have articial lighting with orentzes in classrooms and ofces and conventional or
economic lamps in corridors and toilets. The power of the lighting usually ranges from 50 to 80 W. Many schools have already
replaced almost all the conventional lamps with economic ones.
Furthermore the new ofce devices (computers, copy machines,
scanners) in schools have the Energy Star mark. All the details
concerning the building services systems and the devices of schools
are reporting below (Table 3).

3.3. Energy consumption of schools

The energy consumption of schools is consisting mainly from
electricity and heating oil. The lighting, the cooling, the electrical
heating of hot water and the consumption of the ofce equipment
are the main costs in a school that affect the consumption of electricity. During the winter months the consumption of heating oil
is also an important factor of energy consumption. Through the
questionnaires schools are asked to supplement the monthly consumption of the past three years for oil and electricity in order
to examine their energy consumption levels. In order to compare
heating oil and electricity the amount of heating oil is converted
from liters to kWh using the coefcient 1 l = 10.14 kWh [6]. The
delivered energy consumption for the past three years per climatic
zone is presented in Fig. 1.
As it is shown in Fig. 1, the annual average consumption in
schools is 62.75 kWh/m2 . It is derived that the results between
Greece and Cyprus converge due to the similar climatic conditions. It is also observed that in coastal areas schools have
increased needs for electricity while the mountainous areas have
increased needs for heating. The most energy-intensive schools
presented in the mountainous areas with increased need for

Fig. 1. Delivered energy consumption of schools.

heating. In detail schools in mountainous areas consume total delivered energy 107.99 kWh/m2 /year and at the same time in inland
areas the consumption is 55.67 kWh/m2 /year and in coastal areas
48.44 kWh/m2 /year.
Since the primary energy is always a good baseline for comparisons the results of Fig. 1 are also converted in primary energy and
presented in Fig. 2. The conversion factors that are used in order to
transform the delivered energy to primary is 2.7 for electricity and
1.1 for heating oil these are the factors which are used in Cyprus legislation and for the issuing of the energy performance certicates
(EPCs). Fig. 2 shows that concerning the primary energy the electricity needs are higher in coastal and inland areas and on the other
hand mountainous schools still consume more primary energy for
heating oil.

Fig. 2. Primary energy consumption of schools.

12

M.C. Katafygiotou, D.K. Serghides / Energy and Buildings 72 (2014) 816

Fig. 3. Energy consumption and construction details comparisons of school stock.

It has to be mentioned that all the following results in this section are referred to delivered energy since they are collected from
the actual bills of schools. Further comparisons state the vulnerabilities of structures and HVAC systems and the consequences on
the energy consumption of schools. Referring to schools construction date it must be mentioned the schools which are built before
1974 consume a total of 99.35 kWh/m2 /year, with increased needs
for heating. The less consumption arises in the schools which are
built between 2000 and 2007 and is 37.54 kWh/m2 /year.
The lower consumption occurs in ground oor buildings and
is 46.5 kWh/m2 /year. The three-storey buildings have the highest
consumption which is 94.28 kWh/m2 /year, with increased needs
for heating. Additionally horizontal roofs are more energy efcient
compared with sloping tiled roofs in schools.
It seems that the rectangle shape is the most energy efcient
shape with a total average consumption of 50.82 kWh/m2 /year in
contrast with the
-shaped, which is the most energy intensive
with total consumption up to 73.9 kWh/m2 /year. The best orientations are the north and the south with energy consumption 44.47
and 53.45 kWh/m2 /year respectively.
An important element in Cypriot schools is that they have
outdoor courtyard and outdoor main corridor. This promotes ventilation especially during the warmer months of the year. However it
presents increased energy consumption for heating mainly due to
the non-insulated buildings envelopes. Schools with exterior corridor consume 45.5 kWh/m2 /year for heating in contrast with the
schools with interior corridor which consume 34.5 kWh/m2 /year

for heating. Also the thermally insulated schools consume an average 50.43 kWh/m2 /year and the non-insulated schools consume
65.84 kWh/m2 /year. The most important comparisons between the
constructural characteristics of schools and their energy consumption are presented also in Fig. 3.
Regarding their building services, all the schools have central
oil heating system with increased consumption when the system
is old. Specically schools with heating system older than 10 years
they have an increase of 18.5% on their heating consumption. An
important factor that may cause the increased consumption for
heating is the central thermostats. The operation of heating with
central thermostats is not considering the peculiarities of each
classroom (orientation, internal gains, etc.) in order to reduce the
temperatures when are unnecessary.
Concerning the cooling system it must be stated that in Cyprus
public schools have split units for cooling only in the ofces and in
some computer labs. On the other hand the private schools provide
cooling in the whole school building. Electricity consumption in
private schools is high and reach the amount of 62.79 kWh/m2 /year
while in public schools is 21.94 kWh/m2 /year.
The energy classication of the cooling systems also affects the
energy consumption. Split units with energy classication A or B
consume 18% less energy for electricity than the split units with
worst energy efciency. Also important is the Energy Star sign
in the ofce equipment. The schools with energy efcient devices
consume 23.83 kWh/m2 /year for electricity while schools that have
old equipment consume almost twice amount, 41.99 kWh/m2 /year.

Fig. 4. Energy consumption and HVAC systems comparisons of school stock.

M.C. Katafygiotou, D.K. Serghides / Energy and Buildings 72 (2014) 816

13

Table 4
Typical school building characteristics.
Type of school
Climatic zone
Area of a typical classroom
Density of students in classrooms
Construction period
Number of oors
Orientation
Shape
Roof
Main corridor
Court yard
Envelope insulation
Windows type
Heating system
Cooling systems
Hot water system
Illumination
Equipment
Electricity consumption
Oil heating consumption
Total consumption

Public
Coastal
46 m2
2
19742000
2
North
Rectangular or
shape
Horizontal
Exterior
Exterior
No
Single glazed
Oil central heating
Split units
No system
Fluoresces
With Energy star
24.17 kWh/m2 /year
38.59 kWh/m2 /year
62.75 kWh/m2 /year

The most important comparisons between the building services

systems of schools and their energy consumption are presented
also in Fig. 4.
Summarized the most efcient characteristics of schools are the
rectangular shape with only a ground oor area and a horizontal
roof. Moreover it is observed that the age of the central heating
systems affect the energy consumption of schools and therefore the
newer system the less consumption. Also the use of split units for
cooling in the whole building and not only in the head ofces leads
to double energy consumption. The installation of solar panels for
hot water seems to be essential in schools since all the other ways
for hot water consume more energy.
4. Determination of the typical school building
The characteristics of the typical school building are derived
after the detailed survey of the secondary school stock in Cyprus
in Section 3. Qualitative and quantitative statistical analyses have
been made after the collection of the questionnaire results and
the data from the interviews and in situ visits. The construction
characteristics as well as the most commonly used building services systems are categorized after the statistical analysis and the
most frequent features are describe the typical secondary school
in Cyprus. Technical Service of Ministry of Education and Culture
who has the main responsibility of schools construction in Cyprus
cooperated in this investigation and provides useful information
for the schools typology. In Cyprus, this carrier has the primarily responsible for the construction and maintenance of all public
school buildings and therefore the majority of schools have similar
typology since they are built in similar chronological periods. The
typical school building characteristics it is described in Table 4.

Fig. 5. Frontage of school.

with north and south orientation. The constructional characteristics as well as the building services of this school are equivalent with
those of typical school and therefore Neapolis School is selected as
a representative school for further studies (Figs. 5 and 6).
Moreover the courtyard is exterior and the building has mostly
exterior corridors. The school has an old central oil heating system with central thermostat. It has also split units for cooling in
the ofces and in the computer labs. The hot water system is operating through the central heating system. The lighting consists of
uoresces and part of the equipment have Energy Star marking.
In Table 5 the delivered energy consumption details of the school
are presented. These data are derived from the annual bills of the
building the last three years. It seems that the consumption in this
school is lower than the one derived for the typical school however
this is not prohibitive for comparative studies. The lower consumption may be due to the users behavior and their environmental and
energy awareness.
Apart from the data that are collected through the eld survey
energy simulations are carried out in order to dene the energy
classication of the representative typical school building. The
building design and specically its construction characteristics are
selected through eld inspections and are examined through parametric simulations using the software iSBEMcy [24]. The software
calculates the energy consumption of the building and concludes
to its energy performance certicate which states the energy categorization of the building. It is worth to mention that the iSBEMcy
software calculates the consumption on a monthly and not on an

5. Case study: energy simulations and upgrade scenarios of

a typical school
For the case study the Neapolis Gymnasium is selected which
is a representative school since it has all the characteristics of the
typical secondary school. This school is located in the coastal city of
Limassol. It is a public school with similar characteristics with the
typical school as it is derived in the previous section of this paper.
Briey this school is erected in 1985 and consists of two oors and a
horizontal roof with no insulation. It has no insulation also on walls
which consists of brick and the windows are single glazed. Neapolis school has also a combination of a rectangular and a
shape

Fig. 6. North view of school.

14

M.C. Katafygiotou, D.K. Serghides / Energy and Buildings 72 (2014) 816

Table 5
Delivered energy consumption in Neapolis Gymnasium.
School

School area (m2 )

Users

Electricity consumption
(kWh/m2 )

Heating oil consumption

(kWh/m2 )

Total consumption
(kWh/m2 )

Consumption per
user (kWh/user)

Neapolis Gymnasium

2207

372

14.95

16.5

31.45

273.41

hourly basis. Moreover the software uses several assumptions, e.g.

xed temperatures levels for heating, cooling, xed humidity levels per month, x lighting levels, levels of ventilation, frequency of
use and internal gains, internal gains from devices, standard needs
for hot water, etc. which vary and differ from the values of these
parameters when the building is in use. These assumptions in several cases conclude to overestimated results of energy consumption
which differ from the actual bills. The iSBEMcy software is based on
an asset method while the calculation of the actual consumption it
is based on an operational method.
The energy auditing on the building under study investigates the
aspects which affect its energy efciency and its conservation. Initially the simulations conclude to the primary energy consumption
of the existing building. The existing school building categorized
in the energy class D with annual primary energy consumption
of 442 kWh/m2 /year. The consumption which is derived from the
iSBEMcy simulations is much higher than the actual consumption
as derived through the annual bills since the software concludes
to the primary energy consumption. Primary energy is the energy
form found in nature with the conversions or transformations process to electricity or oil for heating and this is the reason which
is so high. Through several studies it is also derived that although
the governmental software concludes to a realistic categorization
of buildings [2527]. However the primary energy consumption
which is estimated is too high in correlation with the actual one
(Fig. 7).
As energy consumption of a building always affected from its
construction elements alternative strategies and techniques for
energy efciency must be used to create a comfortable indoor environment which at the same time will achieve energy conservation.
Therefore based on the energy categorization of the building six
retrotting scenarios are studied in simulations. The six scenarios
concern the building insulation, the windows replacement, three
scenarios for the operation of heating and cooling systems and one
scenario for the installation of renewable energy sources on the
building and specically photovoltaic panels. Following these and
through comparative studies the optimal scenario for energy conservation is concluded and the most energy efcient techniques are
presented (Table 6).
From the results of the simulations it is derived that the most
efcient retrotting scenario with 47.5% savings is the removal of
all the air-condition split units except of one in the lobby and two
more in the management and administrative ofces. All the other
cooling systems (11 split units) either in assistant managers ofces,
in music classroom or in computer labs can be replaced with air
fans which consume considerable less energy. The cost for this scenario is maybe the lowest of all the other retrotting scenarios
and improves the energy class of the building from D class to B
class. Certainly with the removal of the split units for cooling the
energy efciency of the building is not upgraded indeed. However
the energy consumption will be signicantly reduced. Nevertheless
it has to be mentioned that without building services for heating or
cooling the building may not consumes high energy amounts but
this does not mean that it is an efcient building since the thermal
comfort will be in a very low level.
The second most efcient scenario with savings 31.9% is the
addition of 5 cm of extruded polystyrene on walls and on the
horizontal roof. Although this technique is fundamental in order
to preserve thermal losses during winter is also very expensive,

difcult to installed and time lengthy. With this scenario the energy
class of the building upgrade from D to C class. Therefore the rst
scenario with the addition of 5 cm of extruded polystyrene only on
the roof of the school seems more realistic and applicable.
The replacement of all the single windows with double ones is
not very efcient strategy since the energy savings is only 3.6% and
the energy class of the building remains the same. Nevertheless in
case that the frames and the windows will remain single should be
airtight in order to prevent heat losses of the building during the
winter.
Finally the upgrade of the heating and cooling system provide
energy savings of 23.5% and energy class upgrade from D to C class.
This can be achieved either with the maintenance of the heating
system or with the replacement of the old cooling split units with
new A energy class units.
The installation of renewable energy technologies in the building seems that also serve well. The scenario studies the installation
of 200 m2 of photovoltaic panels (PV) on the roof of the building. The
PV area is determined by the availability of the roof area. In order to
maximize the energy efciency the PV panels are install at appropriate angles (30 ) and south orientation. The selected photovoltaic
panels consist of polycrystalline silicon since they are currently
the cheapest in the market. The PV area of a 200 m2 on the roof

Fig. 7. Energy categorization of the existing school building.

M.C. Katafygiotou, D.K. Serghides / Energy and Buildings 72 (2014) 816

15

Table 6
Existing stage and energy savings from different retrotting scenarios.
Existing stage of school

Estimated primary energy consumption

(kWh/m2 /year)

Energy
classication

Neapolis gymnasium existing stage

442

Retrotting scenarios

Energy conservation (%)

Scenario A: Addition of 5 cm extruded polystyrene on roof.

Scenario B:Addition of 5 cm extruded polystyrene on walls (external site) and roof.
Scenario C: Replacement of single windows with double ones.
Scenario D:Remove all the air-condition split units (except those in management,
administrative ofce and lobby).
Scenario E:Increase of the efciency of the heating and cooling system.
Scenario F: Installation of PVs on the roof of the building.

16.5%
31.9%
3.6%
47.5%

Energy
classication
D
C
D
B

of the building achieves energy savings of 10.6% (replacement of

conventional energy with renewable).

23.5%
10.6% (replacement of conventional with renewable
energy)

[2]

6. Conclusions
[3]

The construction characteristics of the school buildings directly

affect their energy performance. Therefore the selection of the
proper construction elements and design strategies is very important in the stage of construction or the renovation stage for a school
building. From the results it is concluded that the most appropriate
design element for an energy efcient school building is the insulation of the envelope and the use of HVAC systems especially for
cooling [28,29]. Furthermore it is concluded from the survey results
that the horizontal roof is more efcient than the sloping roof and
moreover can be insulated more easily and with less cost. The single storey, ground oor buildings have less energy needs than the
multi-storey school buildings and the most energy efcient shape
of the school buildings is the rectangular shape. This shape in combination with the northern or southern exposure may serve very
well and it seems that consume less total energy.
Concerning the HVAC systems of schools and their effect on the
energy consumption valuable conclusions are derived. The central
heating system should be upgraded and renewed at least every
ten years otherwise the energy consumption is greatly increased.
The cooling system must be limited in the ofce spaces and the
energy classication of the split units must A or B class. The hot
water system if it is existed must be provided only by solar panels;
if not the energy consumption for hot water is very high. Ofce
devices are also affecting the energy consumption of schools and
should have the Energy Star marking otherwise the electricity
consumption is almost doubled.
The typical school building in Cyprus consumes an average of
62.75 kWh/m2 /year and has very specic features. The consumption may differ among schools since it depends not only on the
buildings characteristics but also in the number of users and their
behavior [30]. Energy awareness of pupils and teachers is very
important in order to upgrade the energy performance of schools.
Public buildings and especially schools should be on top of the
list to improve their energy efciency. In this way they will act
as exemplars and moreover they will raise energy and environmental awareness in schoolchildren. Moreover renewable energies
and specically the use of solar energy in Cyprus should be promoted and the public buildings are ideal for such installations.
Future studies will include more simulations with upgraded scenarios for energy efcient renovation in order to conclude to nearly
zero energy school buildings.
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