Analysis of Heating and Cooling Energy Demand of School Buildings

This paper presents a simulation study to investigate the impact of insulation on the heating and cooling energy demand of school buildings in two climate conditions of Bhutan. The average annual heating and cooling energy demand of school buildings without insulation are 19 kWh/m2 and 36.5 kWh/m2, respectively. By adding 100 mm layer of mineral wool between the ceiling and the roof can potentially reduce the heating energy demand by 1.3% in temperate climate and 7.2% cooling energy demand in a tropical climate. In a temperate climate, the addition of insulation in the external wall can reduce heating energy demand by 52% but it increases the cooling energy demand by 5.4 times the baseline. The net decrease in total heating and cooling energy demand is not significant. Thus, the addition of insulation in the external wall in a temperate climate is not advisable unless combined with a ventilation system. In a tropical climate, the addition of insulation in the walls results in 70% increase in the cooling energy demand.