Perez Yael
M.Sc.Thesis, 2003
(together with Shaviv Edna)
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this research is to formulate design recommendations for school-buildings designer, in the Hot-Humid Climatic zone of the coastal strip area in Israel.
The first part of this research, concentrate on finding what are the recommendations and constraints on the design of school buildings, these were used to identify design variables that could influence the energy consumption of the building. In addition, a basic unit (the classroom) was defined and its characteristics were later used to perform the tests. Finally, different schemes of school-buildings were identified, thus categorizing the common school building design schemes in Israel.
The second part of the research used computer simulation to evaluate energy consumption. Each variable was tested and the optimal value for each variable was determined.
The third part of the research summarizes the energy consumption value per classroom in the different design schemes identified in the first part. Conclusions were drawn regarding the preferred schemes in terms of energy efficiency, as well as the importance and influence of each design variable.
In sum, a high performance design of school buildings in Israel’s coastal strip can reduce energy consumption to less than 50% of that of a low performance building. The influence of each variable on the total saving cannot be measured exactly, as each parameter is dependent on the others. Still, with that caveat in mind, the variables with a major influence on energy consumption are the orientation of the windows and their size, window’s glazing type and shading, lighting control type, the infiltration value and the night ventilation intensity.