Energy Audit and Renewable Integration for Historic Buildings: The Case of Craiglockhart Primary School

Abstract

Energy Audit and Planning for both existing and new-to-build buildings has been of increasing interest during the last years due to growing environmental concerns. Especially historic buildings, such Craiglockhart Primary School, which are of great importance because of their special architectural characteristics, are energy-demanding structures of incomplete and outdated technology. Improving the energy efficiency of such buildings would mean environmental and financial benefits as well as retaining of the historical heritage of Edinburgh. Additionally, integration of renewable sources in such buildings would result in a further gain from renewable heat incentives and in greener building as well. Firstly, this paper summarizes a study of possible actions for improving the energy efficiency of such buildings. Secondly, assuming that the proposed measures have been applied, possibility of renewables’ integration is assessed. Heat pumps and biomass integration is investigated and a hybrid system is finally proposed. This paper evaluates level of improvement and cost for all scenarios explored after considering possible constraints.