Energy consumption in conventional, energy-retrofitted and green LEED Toronto schools

Authors: Issa, Mohamed¹; Attalla, Mohamed²; Rankin, Jeff¹; Christian, A. John¹

Source: Construction Management and Economics, Volume 29, Number 4, April 2011 , pp. 383-395(13)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

Green buildings have been marketed as the economical, energy-efficient alternative to conventional buildings. This is despite little existing empirical evidence to prove their energy efficiency, especially in Canada. To overcome this limitation, the electricity and gas consumption quantities and costs of a sample of 10 conventional, 20 energy-retrofitted and three green Toronto schools following the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Rating (LEED) System for New Construction were analysed in this study. The analysis conducted over eight years for conventional and energy-retrofitted schools, and since their inception for green schools, showed surprisingly that energy-retrofitted and green schools spent 37% more on electricity than conventional schools. Nevertheless, green schools spent 56% and 41% less on gas than conventional and energy-retrofitted schools respectively. Their total energy costs were also 28% lower than conventional and energy-retrofitted schools. Nevertheless, these savings do not always justify their construction cost premiums. The study showed that more research was needed to overcome the scarcity of data on green buildings in Canada. There was a need to focus on analysing more green buildings, of various types, and over longer study periods in order to better understand why some green buildings do not live up to expectations.

Keywords: Energy consumption; green buildings; cost

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2011.552511

Affiliations: 1: Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 2: Toronto District School Board, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Publication date: 2011-04-01

More about this publication?

• Editorial Board
• Information for Authors
• Subscribe to this Title
• ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Construction
• By this author: Issa, Mohamed ;  Attalla, Mohamed ;  Rankin, Jeff ;  Christian, A. John

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers