Evaluation of Building Retrofitting Alternatives Towards Zero Energy School Building in Turkey

The building sector plays a vital role in coping with current worldwide challenges: climate change, urbanization, and environmental pollution. Building performance analysis is essential from the energy consumption, comfort, and carbon emission point of view. Different paradigms have been studied for many years, like bioclimatic architecture, sustainable architecture, green architecture, and carbon-neutral architecture. The regenerative paradigm has been a critical topic since 2016 to look toward positive impact architecture for going beyond the neutral impact. The research aims to examine the existing condition of a school building in İstanbul, Turkey, to investigate a strategy for achieving energy-efficient school building towards zero energy. The research method is based on preparing the energy model of the school and making simulations by using Design Builder software and Energy Plus software. The validated simulation is used to examine the retrofit packages for the efficiency of the school building and discuss the alternatives that are categorized as two alternatives for the insulation layer, three types of glazing alternatives, two types of the lighting system, and five alternatives for the HVAC system. By the combination of the alternatives, 111 retrofit packages are analysed. According to the comparison of the packages, the P102 scenario has the lowest results for the primary energy for electricity (P.E.E), primary energy for natural gas (P.E.N.), and the total primary energy (T.P.E) as 1.84 kWh/m², 1.51 kWh/m², and 3.35 kWh/m² thanks the integration of renewable energy systems; while the existing condition of the case study school building has 29.99 kWh/m², 63.05 kWh/m², and 93.05 kWh/m² respectively. Therefore, towards zero energy school building, the retrofit scenarios are significant to reduce the negative impact of a building on the environment by highlighting the combination of the renewable energy system and advanced HVAC system and with the integration of proper insulation thickness, efficient glazing, and lighting type. The alternatives and aspects of the research can provide a strategy for further study steps and related studies to improve the building stock towards zero energy in school buildings.