Benchmarking the energy efficiency and greenhouse gases emissions of school buildings in central Argentina

The energy efficiency and emissions of greenhouse gases were estimated for 15 public school buildings in the city of Santa Rosa, in a central area of Argentina. The annual energy consumption of electricity and natural gas by square meter of construction and by student was measured in each case. The greenhouse gases emissions were estimated using a standard method applied in the UK. The consumption of electricity and gas over the estimated needs of auxiliary heating, and the economic cost of the consumed energy, were used as indicators of energy efficiency in the study buildings. The need for auxiliary heating varied from school to school, but was lower than the current levels of heating, revealing an inefficient use of energy. A low emission of greenhouse gases was estimated for the local buildings in comparison to school buildings located in other environments of the northern hemisphere. However, such emissions seem to be unnecessarily high for the local climatic conditions. It is concluded that some standardized designs and management practices, as well as the development of local standards for energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions are necessary to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in the study region and to contribute to the prevention of environmental change globally. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.