Energy Benchmarking in Educational Buildings through Cluster Analysis of Energy Retrofitting

A large part of the stock of Italian educational buildings have undertaken energy retrofitinterventions, thanks to European funds allocated by complex technical-administrative calls. In theseprojects, the suggested retrofit strategies are often selected based on the common best practices(considering average energy savings) but are not supported by proper energy investigations. In thispaper, Italian school buildings’ stock was analyzed by cluster analysis with the aim of providinga methodology able to identify the best energy retrofit interventions from the perspective ofcost-benefit, and to correlate them with the specific characteristics of the educational buildings.This research is based on the analysis of about 80 school buildings located in central Italy andcharacterized by different features and construction technologies. The refurbished buildings wereclassified in homogeneous clusters and, for each of them, the most representative building wasidentified. Furthermore, for each representative building a validating procedure based on dynamicsimulations and a comparison with actual energy use was performed. The two buildings thus singledout provide a model that could be developed into a useful tool for Public Administrations to suggestpriorities in the planning of new energy retrofits of existing school building stocks.