Paving the way to nearly zero energy schools in Mediterranean region-ZEMedS project

The present article deals with the current situation of school buildings in four Mediterranean countries (France, Greece, Italy and Spain) as regards the energy performance and indoor environmental quality, in the frame of ZEMedS IEE Project. ZEMedS focuses on the renovation of schools to nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) in the Mediterranean, an area which represents 17% of EU-27 population. EU energy policy encourages Member States to start converting building stock into nZEB and public authorities to adopt exemplary actions. A holistic approach should combine measures to achieve high energy performance and indoor environmental quality. ZEMedS aims to cover a complete renovation path, tackling strategies for the envelope, the systems and renewable energy applications as well as the energy management and users' behavior. In this context, the first results are presented with case studies of school buildings that have been analyzed in terms of the energy efficiency and cost optimality so as to define a detailed renovation action plan. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.