effect of optimizing external skins and translucent walls on reducing energy consumption and investment return time of educational buildings in a temperate climate with dry and very hot summers

A comfortable indoor environment is essential for the health, performance, and academic efficiency of students in schools. The amount of energy consumption to provide comfortable conditions in educational buildings in Iran has placed these buildings among the biggest consumers of the energy sector with energy consumption of more than 160-kilowatt hours per square meter, and it is necessary to reduce energy consumption in this sector through environmentally friendly solutions. This research aims to reduce energy consumption and provide comfortable conditions in educational buildings by making changes in the layering of building shell elements including walls and light-transmitting walls as a static combination solution. The research method is quantitative and modeled through the use of design-builder software, and to examine the existing situation and optimize the energy of the building with variables Insulation type, wall thermal insulation thickness, insulation layering, glass type, and thickness, gases between walls, wall thickness were discussed. The results showed that in the studied building, the use of polyurethane insulation in the innermost layer (behind the carpentry plaster) of the south and north classrooms with a thickness of 10 cm had the most optimal performance. In the north classroom, a 2-pane light-transmitting wall with low-emissivity glass with a glass thickness of 3 mm and 13 mm argon gas with 28.40% reduction in energy consumption, and also in the south classroom with windows with a 3-pane light-passing wall and 3 mm normal glass and 13 mm of air had the best performance of 23.04% reduction in energy consumption...