Benefits of retrofitting school buildings in accordance to LEED v4

Pursuing green building certification for major renovation projects, including schools, has become common due to its associated resource efficiency, reduced operation cost, and enhanced indoor environmental conditions. The perceived renovation costs may discourage professionals from pursuing the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating systems. To attain cost-effective LEED certifications, the authors developed an optimization model capable of identifying practical credits then ranking them by their associated costs. A case study was performed using a random sample of nine constructed schools in Dubai. The model output revealed that schools could be renovated to LEED Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum with average cost increases of 0.15%, 0.46%, 1.42%, and 4.97%, respectively. Because of the insignificant cost differences between upgrading to LEED Certified, LEED Silver, and LEED Gold, the authors advise upgrading most school buildings to the Gold certificate level. Furthermore, average energy and water consumption savings at the LEED Platinum tier are estimated to be 30% and 27%, respectively. Some sample schools were built to meet the city's mandatory green building regulations, thus allowing the model to identify the effects of local regulation. Finally, the proposed investments in water and energy conservation could be retrieved within a maximum of seven years.