Case studies

School near Brussels aims at a 30% energy savings with the modernization of its heating system with oil condensing boilers

Why?

Existing school buildings are traditionally large consumersof energy as many school buildings carry theweight of their historic past: most buildings are oldand need retrofitting. In Belgium more than 60% ofall school buildings were built before 1970 at a timewhen energy savings and climate protection was not apriority in the mind of many school authorities.In order to reach the EU objectives of achieving 32,5%energy savings up to 2030 and the target of thereduction of 80% greenhouse gas emissions comparedto 1990 in 2050 much work is still ahead. A largeschool near Brussels sets the example.

 

What?

Ten years ago, the school board launched an extensiveenergy savings program to reduce its energybills. The head of the technical service of the schoolremembers that at that time the school used approximately300.000 liters of heating oil per year. “In 10years’, we have managed to have all buildings equippedwith wall and roof insulation and high-performingwindows. It has halved our annual consumption forheating & sanitary hot water to approximately 140.000liter of heating oil. Yet this is only a first step.”During the summer of 2018 the school modernized itsheating system and replaced three existing oil boilers(2,2 MW) by 2 condensing ones of 400 kW each.The regulation system of the boilers was completelyrenewed and all heating pipes in the boiler room wereinsulated in order to reduce energy losses. Next stepfor the school is the implementation of an energyaccounting system in order to be able to monitor theenergy consumption of the new installation. Duringthe first 3 months of operation, the consumption hasalready dropped by 10%. The head of the technicaldepartment of the school thinks the target of 30%energy saving is within reach by fine tuning the installation’snew temperature control system. A combinationwith renewable energy is also under investigation.

Belgium

Outcome

- In this school using highly efficient oil heating technologyin combination with appropriated insulationreduces energy consumption by 80%.

- It is an excellent example in the field how largeschool buildings can achieve Europe’s targets inenergy saving and reduction of greenhouse gasemissions.


pdf towards 30% savings in belgian school