Energy consumption of 270 schools in Tianjin, China

Abstract

With the rapid development of education cause, the increasing energy consumption of school buildings is gradually causing widespread concern in recent years in China. This paper presented an analysis of energy consumption of 270 schools located in the city of Tianjin, China. The analysis focused specifically on calculating the space heating energy consumption indexes and non-heating energy consumption indexes of different types of schools, aiming at providing reliable and precise data for the government to elaborate policies and measures. The space heating energy consumption of schools adopting district heating and gas boiler were 92.04 kWh/(m²·a) and 64.25 kWh/(m²·a), respectively. Comparing to the schools without a canteen, the non-heating energy consumption index of schools with a canteen can increase by 8%–37%. Furthermore, clustering of different energy sources, the total primary energy consumption indexes were also presented. Space heating energy consumption accounted for approximately 64%–79% of the total primary energy consumption. When using time-sharing control and self-contained gas boiler instead of district heating, an amount of almost 27.8 kWh/(m²·a) and 77.5 kWh/(m²·a) can be saved respectively. Through extensive statistical analysis of the data collected, this paper demonstrated that gross floor area, heating energy source and canteen had a close relationship with the total primary energy consumption regarding complete schools. Eventually, a linear regression equation was established to make a simple prediction about the total energy consumption of existing complete schools and to estimate the energy consumption of complete schools to be built.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

schools / energy consumption index / primary energy / energy saving / regression analysis

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Acknowledgments

This survey has been supported by Tianjin Urban-Rural Construction & Transport Commission and funded by Tianjin Municipal Education Commission. Moreover, the Tianjin Schools Management Service Center is gratefully acknowledged for having provided the data necessary and coordination made for this study.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2015 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg