Schools: All problem buildings?

Seven schools underwent an energy audit, evaluating the existing situation through measurement and simulation and looking to possible retrofit measures and their economic feasibility with the energy performance tool (EPB) as an instrument. The results are troubling. The seven schools audited are all problem buildings: hardly any insulation, windows quite air leaky, central heating systems poorly designed and no usage of an on purpose installed ventilation system. As a conse-quence, IAQ is poor, with CO2-levels passing 3000 ppm and a high percentage of dissatisfied with air freshness during teaching hours. Annual end energy use, however, is remarkably low compared to the EPB-prediction, showing that a potentially high energy demand evokes effective rebound behavior. The negative side of that is that hardly any energy conserving measure has enough impact to show a positive NPV at the end of the return period, let it be that the annuity on investment is lower than the annually avoided energy cost.