Passive schools pilot project shows costs can be low
A report on the first six years of a pilot project to build passive school buildings is encouraging, with costs fairly low and staff and students opinions positive
Energy neutral by 2021
According to the report, the costs involved in building a passive school – meaning that it generates its own energy with technology like heat pumps and solar panels – were in one case as low as 1% and on average 12% more than the costs of building a normal school. Recouping the costs, said the report, would be achievable in five to seven years.
Before the project, only 35% of students, teachers and parents were convinced that passive buildings would provide a more qualitative learning environment. After the project, 53% said they were convinced that the passive projects would provide a better learning environment.
The government has a target date of 2021 for every school in Flanders to be actively working on becoming energy neutral. Like every EU member state, Belgium will have to source 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Photo courtesy Onderwijs Vlaanderen
