Nearly Zero Energy Mediterranean Schools as a Mitigation Potential to Climate Change

Climate change is a challenge for the construction sector. Buildings are responsible for great proportions of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. EU energy policy encourages member states to start converting building stock into nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) and adopting exemplary actions. ZEMedS project focuses on the issues related to the refurbishment of Mediterranean schools to nZEB. ZEMedS aims to provide a roadmap with numerical indicators for energy demand and the share of renewable energy sources. The project covers a complete renovation path, tackling strategies for the envelope, the systems and renewable energy applications as well as the energy management and users' behavior. Ten typical schools from Catalonia, Tuscany, Athens, Ancona, Montpellier, have been analyzed in terms of the energy efficiency and cost optimality so as to contribute to the ongoing development of a methodology on how to achieve energy efficient and cost optimal nearly zero energy schools while ensuring the Indoor Environmental Quality aspects. A number of measures dealing with the building envelope and energy systems have been examined through energy auditing and simulations tools. The results ease the understanding of efficient design on the rising cost of energy, paving the way to zero energy consumption buildings.