Energy consumption, self-reported teachers’ actions and children's perceived indoor environmental quality of nine primary school buildings in the Netherlands

Literature shows that both building systems and occupants’ behaviour contribute to the amount of energy used to create a comfortable indoor environment. To determine possible relationships, energy consumption of nine school buildings was studied in relation to identified building characteristics, self-reported frequency of teachers’ actions, and (perceived and measured) indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of the school children in the classrooms studied. These schools were located in different areas in the Netherlands, and their yearly energy consumption differed a lot. Results demonstrated significant relationships of electrical energy consumption with lighting distribution in classrooms and the frequency of teachers’ light switch behaviour: the higher the measured illuminance in the classrooms, the more electricity was used in the school building. The more electricity was used, the more children complained about the IEQ in their classrooms; and the more frequently the teachers turned on the light, the less electricity the schools consumed. It was concluded that stimulating teachers to be more active in controlling the light might lead to energy saving, but a larger sample of schools with more variation in buildings systems is required to confirm this.