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Energy Performance and Benchmarking for University Classrooms in Hot and Humid Climates

Author

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  • Jaqueline Litardo

    (Department of Architecture, Built, Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC), Politecnico di Milano, Via Ponzio 31, 20133 Milan, Italy)

  • Ruben Hidalgo-Leon

    (Centro de Energías Renovables y Alternativas CERA, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral ESPOL, Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, Guayaquil 090902, Ecuador)

  • Guillermo Soriano

    (Centro de Energías Renovables y Alternativas CERA, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral ESPOL, Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, Guayaquil 090902, Ecuador)

Abstract

In this paper, the energy performance of a university campus in a tropical climate is assessed, and four mixed classroom buildings are compared using benchmarking methods based on simple normalization: the classic Energy Use Intensity (EUI), end-used based EUI, and people-based EUI. To estimate the energy consumption of the case studies, building energy simulations were carried out in EnergyPlus using custom inputs. The analysis found that buildings with more classroom spaces presented higher energy consumption for cooling and lighting than others. In comparison, buildings with a greater percentage of laboratories and offices exhibited higher energy consumption for plug loads. Nevertheless, differences were identified when using the people-based EUI since buildings with larger floor areas showed the highest values, highlighting the impact of occupant behavior on energy consumption. Given the fact that little is known about a benchmark range for university campuses and academic buildings in hot and humid climates, this paper also provides a comparison against the EUIs reported in the literature for both cases. In this sense, the identified range for campuses was 49–367 kWh/m 2 /year, while for academic buildings, the range was 47–628 kWh/m 2 /year. Overall, the findings of this study could contribute to identifying better-targeted energy efficiency strategies for the studied buildings in the future by assessing their performance under different indicators and drawing a benchmark to compare similar buildings in hot and humid climates.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaqueline Litardo & Ruben Hidalgo-Leon & Guillermo Soriano, 2021. "Energy Performance and Benchmarking for University Classrooms in Hot and Humid Climates," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:21:p:7013-:d:664866
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Kotarela, Faidra & Kyritsis, Anastasios & Agathokleous, Rafaela & Papanikolaou, Nick, 2023. "On the exploitation of dynamic simulations for the design of buildings energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
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    5. Ravita D. Prasad, 2024. "School Electricity Consumption in a Small Island Country: The Case of Fiji," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-25, April.
    6. Katarina Bäcklund & Marco Molinari & Per Lundqvist & Björn Palm, 2023. "Building Occupants, Their Behavior and the Resulting Impact on Energy Use in Campus Buildings: A Literature Review with Focus on Smart Building Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-21, August.

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