Hybrid Social-Structural Demand Side Management Strategy for School Buildings in Israel

Human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels. Global progress and computerization impose continuously increasing demand on centralized power distribution networks introducing risks of supply instability. The rehabilitation of existing public infrastructure by renewable on-site power production with Photovoltaics (PV) integrated with Energy Storage Systems (ESS), and Demand Side Management (DSM) strategies is a preferable policy to convert an existing building into an autonomous power unit, thus improving the redundancy of power supply architecture. One of the balks in achieving this goal is insufficient awareness of the public to the impact of the daily decision and behavior habits on the energy performance of the building, which in turn is highly dependent on its eco-structural profile. This research aims to propose a hybrid social-structural (HSS) DSM strategy to reduce energy consumption toward the zero-energy performance of the buildings. Two preliminary schools in southern Israel with significantly different eco-structural profiles were selected as the pilot case study sites to implement and evaluate the suggested DSM approach's quantitative and qualitative effects.