<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The energy efficiency – indoor air quality dilemma is well known and the main drawback to operate the mechanical ventilation is electricity costs as concluded from previous studies. Educational buildings are one of the places where future taxpayers spend a lot of time. This paper aims to study an alternative solution on how to reduce energy efficiency – indoor air quality dilemma in educational buildings by adopting systems that use renewable energy sources. A typical education building in Latvia is taken as a case study by changing it from a consumer to prosumer. This building type has a specific electricity usage profile that makes the choice of photovoltaics (PV) power quite challenging so the various power options have been analysed and used for an electricity solution. Also, the more decentralised preference is chosen – disconnect from a public heating provider and using a local system with a pellet boiler. Educational buildings using PV can reduce the electricity tariff, but the payback periods are still not very satisfactory without subsidies. The average electricity tariff per month varies between scenarios and the best one is for the scenario with 30 kW installed power. The educational building partly using 16 kW PV system reduces not only its bill for electricity but also reduces CO<sub>2</sub> emissions by around 36 tons. The education buildings as energy prosumers using renewable energy sources are reducing GHG emissions by having high indoor air quality.</p></abstract>

The energy efficiency – indoor air quality dilemma is well known and the main drawback to operate the mechanical ventilation is electricity costs as concluded from previous studies. Educational buildings are one of the places where future taxpayers spend a lot of time. This paper aims to study an alternative solution on how to reduce energy efficiency – indoor air quality dilemma in educational buildings by adopting systems that use renewable energy sources. A typical education building in Latvia is taken as a case study by changing it from a consumer to prosumer. This building type has a specific electricity usage profile that makes the choice of photovoltaics (PV) power quite challenging so the various power options have been analysed and used for an electricity solution. Also, the more decentralised preference is chosen – disconnect from a public heating provider and using a local system with a pellet boiler. Educational buildings using PV can reduce the electricity tariff, but the payback periods are still not very satisfactory without subsidies. The average electricity tariff per month varies between scenarios and the best one is for the scenario with 30 kW installed power. The educational building partly using 16 kW PV system reduces not only its bill for electricity but also reduces CO2 emissions by around 36 tons. The education buildings as energy prosumers using renewable energy sources are reducing GHG emissions by having high indoor air quality.

Energy Efficiency – Indoor Air Quality Dilemma in Educational Buildings: A Possible Solution

Institute of Energy Systems and Environment

Environmental and Climate Technologies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The energy efficiency – indoor air quality dilemma is well known and the main drawback to operate the mechanical ventilation is electricity costs as concluded...

Energy Efficiency – Indoor Air Quality Dilemma in Educational Buildings: A Possible Solution

Published Online: Jun 15, 2020

Page range: 357 - 367

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rtuect-2020-0020

Keywords
educational buildings, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, prosumers, renewable energy sources, GHG emissions

© 2020 Liva Asere et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Energy Efficiency – Indoor Air Quality Dilemma in Educational Buildings: A Possible Solution

Published Online: Jun 15, 2020

Page range: 357 - 367

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rtuect-2020-0020

Keywordseducational buildings, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, prosumers, renewable energy sources, GHG emissions

© 2020 Liva Asere et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
educational buildings, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, prosumers, renewable energy sources, GHG emissions