Energy consumption of Finnish schools and daycare centers and the correlation to regulatory building permit values

The national building codes set requirements for building energy efficiency in many countries. The purpose of this study was to improve understanding on the measured and calculated energy efficiency of Finnish schools and daycare centers. The study analyzed the energy consumption of 134 schools and 71 daycare centers and compared the regulatory building permit calculations to measured values for 18 case buildings. According to the results, the specific electricity consumption (kW h/(m2 a)) has increased in schools but not in daycare centers. The heating energy consumption was lower in schools, but this might be explained by that they had clearly larger gross floor area than daycare centers. When compared to the technical requirements in the building code, the actual heating energy consumption has decreased less than what the changes in the building code would suggest. The building energy consumption calculated for building permits with the monthly calculation method and standard use clearly underestimated the measured building energy consumption. The differences were larger in heating energy than in electricity consumption. In conclusion, different regulatory limit values should be considered for the two building types. The calculation methods and input data should be analyzed to ensure that they truly guide towards cost-optimal design choices.