Investigation of the Energy Saving Efficiency of a Natural Ventilation Strategy in a Multistory School Building

Abstract

Under-ventilation and high energy consumption are some of the problems associated with school classrooms. Thus, it is necessary to develop a ventilation strategy that is characterized by high energy-saving and ventilation efficiency. To this end, this study aims to investigate natural ventilation as a possible strategy to improve the indoor environment while reducing ventilation loads and maintaining energy costs during intermediate seasons. Ventilation and cooling load reductions based on the opening and closing of several windows were analyzed. Window flow coefficients and ventilation rates were measured and used for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to obtain pressure coefficients for 16 wind directions. The results obtained showed that the improved natural ventilation strategy could be used to effectively establish required indoor conditions (26 °C, 60% RH). Additionally, compared with the mechanical ventilation system with variable refrigerant flow, this natural strategy resulted in a decrease in energy consumption of approximately 30%. However, its application requires that internal heat gain and CO2 emissions, which depend on human population density, as well as the room usage schedule should be considered.