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Post-occupancy evaluation of a historic primary school in Spain: Comparing PMV, TSV and PD for teachers' and pupils' thermal comfort
Abstract
With attention increasingly shifting toward adaptation and energy upgrade of existing and historic buildings, research on Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) has grown notably in recent years. School buildings are a significant asset to the European building stock and an important field of investigation because of the peculiarities of the end users and the impact of indoor environmental conditions on their health and productivity. Building on recent literature, particularly the method of Povl Ole Fanger, this research presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative study performed to assess the thermal comfort conditions of a primary school located in a historic building in Villar del Arzobispo, Spain. As the study involves six and seven-year-old pupils, appropriate questionnaires for subjective thermal comfort evaluation were defined with the pedagogical support of the teachers, who also took part in the research and helped deliver the surveys to the children. The Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Percentage of Dissatisfied (PD) were then calculated for the evaluation of thermal comfort from measurements and questionnaires, for both pupils and teachers, using the classroom as a sample size. The results show a difference between pupils' and teachers' subjective opinions, with the children displaying a higher and more-difficult-to-reach threshold for indoor thermal comfort.
... Dos 18 trabalhos que utilizaram o método "questionário", nove avaliaram a percepção dos usuários quanto ao conforto térmico (TOYINBO et al., 2016;MARTINEZ-MOLINA et al., 2017;MISHRA et al., 2017;BOGERD et al., 2020;APARICIO-RUIM et al., 2021;DING et al., 2021;MONGE-BARRIO et al., 2022;TOFTUM, CLAUSEN, 2023;TORRIANI et al., 2023); um avaliou o conforto térmico e o acústico (KALLIO et al., 2020); cinco analisaram a união do conforto térmico, acústico e visual (PEREIRA et al., 2014;SALLEH et al., 2015;BLUYSSEN et al., 2018;ZHANG, ORTIZ, BLUYSSEN, 2019;BLUYSSEN et al., 2020); dois analisaram a união do conforto térmico e do visual (KORSAVI, MONTAZAMI, 2019; KORSAVI, MONTAZAMI, MUMOVIC, 2020) e um analisou questões espaciais arquitetônicas (BARRET et al., 2015). ...
... Outra metodologia empregada nos artigos analisados foi a aferição in loco, entre os quais, treze são mensurações apenas térmicas (PEREIRA et al., 2014;HAVERINEN-SHAUGHNESSY et al., 2015;TOYINBO et al., 2016;MARTINEZ-MOLINA et al., 2017;MISHRA et al., 2017;BLUYSSEN et al., 2018;KORSAVI, MONTAZAMI, 2019;KALLIO et al., 2020;KORSAVI, MONTAZAMI, MUMOVIC, 2020;APARICIO-RUIZ et al., 2021;MONGE-BARRIO et al., 2022;DING et al., 2023;TORRIANI et al., 2023); dois fizeram medições térmicas, acústicas e visuais (BARRET et al., 2015;TOFTUM, CLAUSEN, 2023); um fez aferição apenas da qualidade visual do ambiente (SOKOL et al., 2023); e um mediu aspectos térmicos e visuais (KORSAVI, MONTAZAMI, MUMOVIC, 2020). ...
... A importância do conforto ambiental não está apenas ligada a comodidade dos usuários no espaço, mas, também, possui relação direta com a eficiência energética do edifício, como relata a pesquisa de Alnuaimi, Natarajan, Kershaw (2022), que indica uma redução de até 15% nos gastos de energia de um prédio se a temperatura interna nas salas for diminuída em 2°C. A necessidade de realizar avaliações pós-ocupação em edifícios escolares está associada aos fatores que determinam a qualidade de um espaço, seja eles térmicos, acústicos, visuais, ou até mesmo desempenho energético de um edifício, possibilitando encontrar problemas e soluções para essas questões (MARTINEZ-MOLINA et al., 2017). ...
Ensuring environmental quality, such as thermal, acoustic or visual, in classrooms is an essential factor for high productivity among those who use this space, because these are places where users spend most of the day. Measuring these parameters in these environments can be done using different qualitative and quantitative methodologies, being the most common the on-site measurements of temperature, luminance and noise, along with the application of questionnaires to understand the perceptions of those who use the location. In this context, the article aimed to identify the most common methods for measuring the environmental quality of classrooms in the specific literature. To this end, a systematic literature review was carried out using the ScienceDirect and Scopus databases, based on the selection of 29 articles, which made up the sample size. With the individual analysis the articles, the importance of carrying out post-occupancy evaluation experiments in school spaces is highlighted, taking into account personal variables between human beings, as well as different microclimatic and cultural contexts, as users' perception of the built environment may be interfered according to these criteria. The analysis of the bibliography provides a general overview of the researches developed around the world, being able to serve as a basis for work related to the topic. Furthermore, the references indicated a gap regarding the lack of articles that use methodologies other than conventional ones, mainly in relation to qualitative methodologies for evaluating a physical space of the classrooms.
... By normalizing a co-occurrence matrix and adjusting it for variations in the total number of occurrences or co-occurrences of items, a similarity matrix is derived. VOSviewer employs association strength as a similarity metric [30]. The similarity, denoted as s_ij, between two items, i and j, is determined using this association strength as ...
... The existing body of research delves into the complex interplay between efficiency, performance, and comfort within building ecosystems that align with ecological imperatives and occupants' needs. For instance, Martinez-Molina et al. (2017) [30] employed questionnaires to subjectively assess TC in a historic primary school in Villar del Arzobispo, Spain. Their findings revealed disparities between the subjective perceptions of 6and 7-year-old students and teachers, indicating differing indoor TC thresholds, with children generally experiencing a greater and more stringent threshold for comfort. ...
... The existing body of research delves into the complex interplay between efficiency, performance, and comfort within building ecosystems that align with ecological imperatives and occupants' needs. For instance, Martinez-Molina et al. (2017) [30] employed questionnaires to subjectively assess TC in a historic primary school in Villar del Arzobispo, Spain. Their findings revealed disparities between the subjective perceptions of 6-and 7-year-old students and teachers, indicating differing indoor TC thresholds, with children generally experiencing a greater and more stringent threshold for comfort. ...
The post-occupancy evaluation process is pivotal for assessing the performance of indoor and outdoor living environments after occupation. This evaluation involves a multifaceted analysis, encompassing energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, outdoor spaces, and occupant satisfaction. Despite the inherent advantages and potential applicability of post-occupancy evaluation in residential buildings, the lack of uniformity in research methodologies, data collection techniques, investigative approaches, and result interpretation has impeded cross-comparisons and method replication. In a concerted effort to enhance the understanding of prevailing post-occupancy evaluation methodologies, this study undertook a comprehensive systematic literature review of post-occupancy evaluation practices within the residential domain from 2000 to 2023. The results unequivocally underscored the pervasive lack of consistency in methodological applications, tool deployment, and data reporting across diverse post-occupancy evaluation investigations. The objectives of this review aimed to examine the existing post-occupancy evaluation (POE) methods, assess occupant-centric thermal comfort, evaluate the impact of POE feedback on building design, and develop recommendations for architects, engineers, facility managers, and policymakers on leveraging POE feedback to enhance thermal comfort and energy efficiency in buildings. This study offers critical insights into advocating for a more standardized and cohesive post-occupancy evaluation approach. The findings of this review can direct the establishment of a coherent and consistently implemented post-occupancy evaluation framework within the realm of residential architecture.
... Nowadays, there is a great stock of historic school buildings that still function as schools (mostly elementary), are in a secondary use (i.e., cultural centers) or have been abandoned [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. On the other hand, many buildings have been demolished and vanished, due to severe damages, de-characterization and substitution with new schools. ...
... Generally, historic school buildings erected in S Europe present similarities. The principles of simplicity and functionality usually govern their construction, while architectural characteristics follow various architectural styles or traditional aspects [1,2,6,7,10,[13][14][15]. Inner spaces were usually successively distributed alongside an elongated corridor (also depicted in the main facades), while natural ventilation and lighting was pursued through the orientation of the building and the openings typology [1,2,[13][14][15][16]. ...
... The scope of the study was to identify the characteristics of the historic schools of this specific region, comparatively assess their differences and similarities, and envisage the key elements of their structure and performance. It emerged from the gap shown in the relevant literature [1,4,6,[10][11][12]14,15], mainly focusing on the structural and energy integration of this significant part of common European built heritage that still maintains its initial functional role as educational centers. Due to the intense need for structural integrity and energy performance in the running of historic schools nowadays, it is considered a mayor task to highlight the diachronic principles governing their construction in order to avoid improper repair works. ...
Historic school buildings, erected during the end of the 19th–beginning of the 20th century, represent a specific constructional type that should be encountered as part of the common European built heritage. They present various similarities, especially in the regions of S. Europe, even though they were mainly built with local materials following the traditional constructional principles of each area. Due to their constant function as educational units, there is an increased interest on their structural and energy integration, without, however, following the principles of restoration of historic structures. To this extent, the acknowledgement of the tangible and intangible values they encompass is crucial, as well as their enlistment in order to be treated as heritage assets. In this study, an effort has been made to testify the characteristics (historic, architectural, constructional) of the historic school buildings located in the Municipality of Agia, region of Thessaly, central Greece. A case study was selected, concerning the old elementary school of Megalovrysso, where a detailed investigation was implemented, including onsite inspection, architectural overview, determination of constructional materials and types, investigation of the preservation state, as well as structural analysis through the three-dimensional finite element model. All research data were comparatively evaluated in order to determine the principles governing the construction of the studied school buildings and establish the significance of this unrecognized part of European built heritage that should be further assessed.
... POE is a powerful tool for data collection to inform performance enhancement designs and techniques. Regarding historic buildings, POE is usually applied to analyze thermal comfort or, more broadly, the overall Indoor Environmental Quality through a very thorough qualitative [27,28] and quantitative [19][20][21]29] data collection campaign. ...
... Only average temperature and relative humidity values between 12:00 and 13:30 (Mass services) were used in the calculations. Hygrothermal differences within that timeframe are minimal, therefore, average values are shown, together with hourly data shown in Fig. 5. Following the similar methodologies than comparable publications [27,28,[35][36][37], Fig. 7 compares average indoor and outdoor temperatures as well as indoor and outdoor average relative humidity values measured during Mass days between 12:00 and 13:30 along the entire study period against TSV values. As examined in Fig. 6, there is a negative correlation between indoor/outdoor temperature gap and thermal sensation based on the results of the TSV assessment. ...
... There is a slight variation among the youngest (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30) and oldest (61 + ) groups surveyed with lower TSV values that still remain in the comfortable zone. Average PMV skewed lower (-2, À3) with greater expectations that visitors would be uncomfortably cool and cold. ...
The adaptive reuse of historic buildings, as well as the maintenance of their optimal indoor environments for structural and collections preservation, are inherently complex, multifaceted goals. Moreover, indoor environments do not only affect collections and building—the occupants’ satisfaction must also be considered. In this study, a field investigation of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) particularly focused on thermal comfort following a Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) process applied to a case study where a combination of microclimate monitoring and questionnaire surveys were carried out during the problematic cooling season in the hot and humid climate of San Antonio, Texas (USA). Mission Concepción de Acuña (part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a unique historic settlement that includes a limestone church which reflects a similar typology to multiple religious buildings distributed across the southwestern USA. Results of these investigations show that: i) the current indoor environment did not always achieve occupants’ thermal satisfaction, displaying thermal discomfort when the indoor/outdoor thermal leap is larger (August and September); ii) Thermal Sensation Vote (TSV) Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) values were considerably different throughout the monitoring period, with TSV mostly included within the (−1, 0, +1) band and PMV mainly within the (−2, −3) band; iii) impact of occupant age, gender and clothing on TSV values is limited. Finally, outcomes of this article underline the limitations of Fanger’s model when applied to such typology of buildings, highlighting the necessity for more investigation in this topic.
... The evolution of school buildings may be directly linked to various parameters, such as the educational history of each country, the cultural background, the general socioeconomic conditions, as well as the diachronic principles followed in constructions (Watters, 2020;Guarini et al., 2020;Galimullina & Korotkova, 2020;García, 2020;Abreu Marques et al., 2015;Augustinaitė, 2018;Broekhuizen et al., 2020). Their erection started to be systemized during the 19 th century, while in the past eras, education was mostly conducted in private houses, public or religious buildings (Abreu Marques et al., 2015;Watters, 2020;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017;Dascalaki & Sermpetzoglou, 2011;Atkins, 1999;Camacho-Montano et al., 2020). To this direction, the national educational policies played an important role, as well as the establishment of a stable educational system in each state (Watters, 2020;Guarini et al., 2020;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017;Lerma et al., 2013;Broekhuizen et al., 2020). ...
... Their erection started to be systemized during the 19 th century, while in the past eras, education was mostly conducted in private houses, public or religious buildings (Abreu Marques et al., 2015;Watters, 2020;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017;Dascalaki & Sermpetzoglou, 2011;Atkins, 1999;Camacho-Montano et al., 2020). To this direction, the national educational policies played an important role, as well as the establishment of a stable educational system in each state (Watters, 2020;Guarini et al., 2020;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017;Lerma et al., 2013;Broekhuizen et al., 2020). ...
... Nowadays, there is a great stock of stone school buildings at National and European level (Abreu Marques et al., 2015;Watters, 2020;Guarini et al., 2020;Galimullina & Korotkova, 2020;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017;Dascalaki & Sermpetzoglou, 2011;Arya, 1987;Lassandro et al., 2015;Perrone et al., 2020;Doukas & Bruce, 2017;Buvik et al., 2014;Khledj & Bencheikh, 2021;Camacho-Montano et al., 2020;Pachta et al., 2021) that are either still in function (as schools or in a secondary use) or abandoned. In many cases, historic school buildings have been demolished due to their abandonment and the severe damages they confronted. ...
Historic schools, built during the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, were evolved according to the wider socio-economic changes that took place at regional, national and international level. Their construction usually followed specific principles, governed by their functional role and structural safety requirements. In this study, the historical background of school buildings in Greece is given, in an effort to assess their evolution and physiognomy. To this direction, 14 historic school buildings, located in the Aristotle Municipality of Chalkidiki, N. Greece, were studied, taking into account their architectural and constructional characteristics. These buildings were erected from 1871 up to 1958 and are nowadays mostly used as elementary schools. In some cases, they are in second use or abandoned. They concerned 1 up to 3 storeys buildings, with rectangular ground plan, symmetrically organized around a main corridor. Their size and dimensions varied according to their capacity. From the beginning of the 30’s, supplementary elements of reinforced concrete (slabs, beams) were added, in combination with the existing building techniques. Nowadays, they are generally preserved in good state, due to the consecutive interventions taken place during their service life. However, their documentation and identification as heritage structures should be further assessed, in order to convey the tangible and intangible values they incorporate in the next generations.
... Furthermore, this paper compares the results obtained to typical building typologies found in the study area. Post-occupancy evaluations to monitor indoor environmental conditions and assess occupants' thermal comfort using surveys have similarly been carried out by [25,28,29] using PMV and TSV thermal comfort models. BS EN ISO 7730:2005 [30] describes the predicted mean vote (PMV) as an index that predicts the mean value of the votes of a large group of persons exposed to the same environment on a seven-point thermal sensation scale (Table 1) based on the heat balance of the human body [31]. ...
... The average clothing insulation (clo) was 0.32, and the metabolic rate (met) was 1.0 (seated and relaxed), as indicated by the majority of the participants. These values were calculated using the BS EN ISO 7730 standard [28]. This shows that their clothing and level of activity did not exaggerate their thermal perception [29,30]. ...
Due to the effects of climate change, diminishing natural resources, and continuous urbanization, there is an increasing need for buildings to be more sustainable. This study explores the potential of upcycling plastic waste for the sustainable construction of low-cost homes in developing countries and contributes to filling the gap in existing studies regarding qualitative results of the in situ performance of buildings made from upcycled materials. This study compares the Bottle house with conventional buildings made of mud and cement. This study seeks to encourage the adoption of the bottle house concept for affordable housing by conducting a thermal comfort survey of its occupants. To obtain the thermal sensation vote (TSV) of the occupants, thermal comfort questionnaires were developed based on the seven-point ASHRAE thermal sensation scale. Additionally, a Testo 480 multifunction meter, which comprised an anemometer, radiant globe thermometer, air thermometer, and relative humidity probe, was used to calculate the predicted mean vote (PMV) concurrently. From the results of the TSV, mean votes of the participants of −2.0, 2.0, and 2.4 were observed for the bottle house, mud houses, and cement houses, respectively. In comparison, adjusted PMV mean values of 1.9, 2.1 and 2.1 were recorded for the bottle house, mud houses, and cement houses, respectively. The TSV and PMV results both indicate that the occupants of the bottle house felt more thermally comfortable when compared to occupants in the other dwellings. This can be attributed to the measures incorporated during the construction of the bottle house. Furthermore, the use of a simulation study helped proffer solutions to further improve the indoor temperatures of the buildings used in this study. The results of this paper will provide evidence of the prospects of upcycling plastic waste for construction and its impact on occupant’s thermal comfort when compared to conventional building materials.
... The selection of indoor environment conditions, used by professionals to design, size, and control HVAC systems, is predicated upon an ability to predict occupant thermal sensation. However, field evaluations of thermal comfort in spaces dominated by children (schools, daycares and child development centers) indicate that one of the foremost methods, the predicted mean vote (PMV), fails to adequately estimate the thermal sensation of children (de Dear et al., 2015;Haddad et al., 2013;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017;Mors et al., 2011;Teli et al., 2016;Yang et al., 2018). Reported discomfort in classrooms (De Giuli et al., 2012;Trebilcock et al., 2014) indicates notably different indoor environment conditions could be required for these occupants. ...
... This version of the protocol then uses M BSA as an input to the PMV equation without changing the value of RMR adult inherent in the formula. Fabbri (2013) and Martinez-Molina et al. (2017) also used M BSA -RMR adult but adjusted the metabolic rate for the BSA of a 4-5-year-old or 6-7-year-old child, respectively, to better match the occupants concerned. (2012) and Yang et al. (2018) used this approach in their evaluation. ...
Indoor thermal conditions have an impact on children’s ability to perform mental tasks requiring concentration. Current thermal comfort standards
explicitly state they should not apply to children occupants. Field studies conducted in classrooms have found that children’s predicted mean vote evaluated from environmental and personal factors using equations from these standards differ significantly when compared to the result of surveys. Yet multiple guidelines directing HVAC professionals as to the design of spaces dominated by children occupants still refer to these standards. This raises the question as to whether and how these standards should be changed so that professionals may adequately evaluate the thermal comfort of children and select interior environmental conditions that meet their needs. This paper is a first attempt at answering this question by analyzing the methods through which thermal comfort evaluations of children have been performed in the past. We considered a set of thirty-four indoor thermal comfort studies from the literature to evaluate the methods used in measuring, calculating, and estimating child specific factors used in analytical thermal comfort calculations. We specifically focus on the methods used in the considered papers to adjust the metabolic rates of children and to estimate children’s clothing insulation factors, as well as the characteristics and positions of sensors used to measure environmental factors. It was found that the placement of environmental sensors was often done either at the recommended heights for adults, or at other values unrelated to the height of children and their positions in the space. No consensus was found as to the method to select metabolic rate values for children. Estimation of clothing insulation values based on outdoor air temperature was found to overestimate the actual clothing level of children in the considered studies. None of the methods considered result in a correct prediction of the thermal sensation of children. Before the applicability of the PMV method to children can be confirmed or denied, consensus is needed on how the factors that contribute to its calculation should be measured for children.
... At the beginning of the 20th century, secondary concrete elements started to be used, so as to enhance the stability of the structures, such as floor plates, beams and columns [2,[6][7][8]. In all cases, the ground plan of the buildings played an important role, including a symmetric allocation of the inner spaces and distribution of the openings [8][9][10][11]. ...
... Nowadays, there is a great stock of historic school buildings in Europe that still function as schools, are used for a secondary purpose (i.e., cultural centers or museums) or are abandoned [2,6,[9][10][11][12][13][14]. Their abandonment, due to structural damages they confronted or abolition of the hosted school unit, usually leads to the aggravation of their preservation state. ...
Life Cycle Assessment is often applied as a methodological approach for evaluating the environmental performance and impact of the building sector, including building stock. In the present study, two school buildings, located in the city of Naoussa, N. Greece were analyzed, including a historic and a modern one. The survey concerned on-site inspection and documentation of the structures, data collection and analysis, Life Cycle Impact assessment, as well as comparative evaluation of the results. The objective was to indicate the constructional and performance characteristics of the buildings, as well as to comparatively evaluate their environmental performance and impact. Since historic school buildings still function as educational units, these aspects are crucial and may determine their future operation and use. For LCA, the expected life span of the buildings was taken into account (60 years for the modern school and 140 years for the historic one), as well as all life cycle stages (product, construction, use, end of life, beyond building life). Various indicators were assessed, such as Global Warming Potential (GWP), Fossil Fuel Consumption, Total Primary Energy, Non-Renewable Primary Energy. From the correlation of the results, it was asserted that although the two buildings present similar operational characteristics and needs, they have different environmental performances and impacts, mainly attributed to their different service life and structural characteristics. Although the operational GWP value of the historic building is higher (due to the extended life span), the embodied one is significantly lower (due to the natural materials used for its construction). Other indicators, such as fossil fuel consumption are also higher in the case of the modern school building, indicating that its environmental footprint is more intense.
... Avaliar ferramentas para correção de taxa metabólica em crianças 1 Apesar de apenas três estudos trazerem como objetivo a elaboração de um questionário de conforto térmico adequado para crianças (HADDAD et al., 2012;MARTINEZ-MOLINA et al., 2017;TELI;JENTSCH;JAMES, 2012), as outras pesquisas utilizaram questionários propostos por outros autores para estudos de conforto em crianças. Apenas um estudo utilizou como ferramenta a simulação computacional (CFD) (STEVANOVIC et al., 2016), as demais pesquisas conduziram estudos de campo de conforto térmico clássicos com aplicação de questionários e medição das variáveis ambientais. ...
... Divergências na capacidade de adaptação também foram verificadas. Na Espanha e na Inglaterra foi relatado que os comportamentos adaptativos ambientais eram comumente realizados por professores, não necessariamente favorecendo o conforto térmico dos estudantes (KORSAVI; MONTAZAMI, 2020; MARTINEZ-MOLINA et al., 2017). Na Suécia, por outro lado, foi relatada maior capacidade de adaptação das crianças (YANG et al., 2018), fato que pode ser explicado pelo clima subártico da região, que pode fazer com que as crianças se adaptem com mais facilidade. ...
... Lastly and most importantly, the differences in the ability of students of different ages to perceive and express their thermal sensations could lead to uncertainty. Compared to adults, children have certain difficulties in understanding and expressing their actual thermal sensations [15,16]. This means that the TSV collected from secondary school students could reflect their actual feelings more accurately than those gathered from primary school students. ...
Existing thermal comfort models defined in relevant standards are often found to be less effective for primary and secondary school students in educational buildings. This is often thought to be primarily due to differences in thermal sensation between children and adults. However, one important factor that is often neglected is the uncertainty associated with thermal comfort survey data. The existing method for calculating the mean thermal sensation vote is oversimplified and does not properly address related uncertainties. As a result, it ultimately affects the performance of the developed thermal comfort models. Hence, this research proposes a novel approach to compute the mean thermal sensation vote data for primary and secondary schools using Bayesian inference. This approach addresses the error caused by the uncertainties associated with the collected thermal sensation vote data in order to improve the effectiveness of the developed thermal comfort models for students. The proposed method was validated through a holistic case study using five thermal comfort models. The results showed that the accuracy of the developed thermal comfort models improved by 10.1 %–30.9 %, and the R2 improved by 5.3 %–28.8 %. A benchmark for the Bayesian model parameter setting was proposed as the reference for relevant studies. Finally, an open, user-friendly software was developed and is available to relevant users to implement the proposed approach more efficiently. The results of this research have practical implications for the development and optimization of thermal comfort models for students.
... Energy Reports 12 (2024) 5234-5248 complement or adjust the limitations of the PMV model in specific environments and populations. Martinez-Molina et al (Martinez-Molina et al., 2017). found that PMV does not accurately reflect children's actual thermal sensations, while TSV captures subjective thermal comfort more effectively. ...
... A favorable indoor thermal environment Yau and Chew, 2012;Huang et al., 2015). A survey of the relevant literature reveals that architects and engineers are approaching the design of educational facilities in a manner similar to that of other public buildings (Montazami et al., 2015;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017;Huang and Hwang, 2016). In thermal comfort research, it is widely acknowledged that the databases of ASHRAE-55, ISO 7730, and CEN 15251 standards serve as benchmarks for studying the comfort of healthy adults in public buildings worldwide (ASHRAE, 2013;ISO, 2005;Comit´e Europ´een de Normalisation. ...
The thermal design of buildings in hot summer and cold winter regions must meet the requirements of thermal insulation in summer and heat preservation in winter. As a vital component of national compulsory education, primary schools must create a good indoor thermal environment for classrooms, which is particularly important for students. Due to the lack of construction standards and limited research on Chinese regions with hot summers and cold winters, policymakers have no comprehensive and efficient approach to creating optimal indoor thermal conditions in primary school classrooms. Therefore, based on the climate conditions of hot summer and cold winter areas, this study conducted field surveys in primary and secondary schools in hot summer and cold winter areas, summarized and analyzed the current situation of the surveyed classrooms and users' subjective evaluation of the indoor thermal environment of classrooms, and summarized the current hot summer and cold winter conditions. Problems in classrooms in primary and secondary schools in the region are clarified, and the research direction of construction strategies is clarified. The study found that most of the school hours in summer and winter were in a poor indoor thermal environment without refrigeration equipment. This study adjusted the school leaving time to 17:20 in summer and 17:00 in winter by adjusting the school leaving time to reduce the time of adverse thermal environment.
... A close correlation between indoor comfort, energy performance, and occupant satisfaction in Cypriot secondary schools was found [76]. A post-occupancy evaluation of a historic Spanish school was conducted, suggesting traditional models might not adequately predict thermal comfort [77]. Building envelope characteristics significantly influencing PMV-based controls were shown in Saudi Arabian schools [78]. ...
This study focuses on the multi-objective optimization of a switchable Suspended Particle Device (SPD) vacuum glazing system to reduce energy use while ensuring thermal and visual comfort in schools located in arid desert environments. A detailed synergy analysis was performed on a representative floor from three school classroom typologies, comparing suspended particle device vacuum glazing in its OFF and ON states against conventional double-glazing with air gaps windows. This analysis employed an advanced simulation framework integrating Rhino-Grasshopper with Open Studio Model, Colibri 2.0, and Design Explorer2 software to evaluate energy consumption, Adaptive Comfort Percentage (ACP), and Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI). Thermal comfort varied across typologies and orientations, with the atrium with skylight typology frequently meeting or approaching the 80 % Adaptive Comfort Percentage benchmark. However, the southern and eastern classrooms in the enclosed atrium with clerestory typology did not exceed a 39 % adaptive comfort percentage. The comprehensive parametric and multi-objective optimization simulation revealed that suspended particle device vacuum glazing in its 'OFF' state did not fulfill the UDI300lux–1000lux criteria across all typologies, even with maximal Window to Wall Ratio (WWR) and skylight ratio (SR). However, the enclosed atrium with clerestory, integrating SPD vacuum glazing with a 40 % Window to Wall Ratio configuration, emerged as particularly effective in achieving optimal useful daylight illuminance distribution, minimizing energy consumption, and ensuring satisfactory adaptive comfort percentage across various orientations. These findings underscore the potential of multi-objective optimization of suspended particle device vacuum glazing, combined with strategic Window to Wall Ratio adjustments, as a viable alternative to traditional glazing systems in hot desert climates. The adaptability of suspended particle device vacuum glazing highlights its significant potential for achieving thermal comfort, enhancing sustainable architectural design, and improving energy efficiency in educational buildings within extreme climate zones.
... Primary school students prefer a slightly cooler environment, while college students prefer a warmer environment [10][11][12][13]. Diverse subjective evaluations of indoor thermal comfort may also exist between students and teachers [14]. It is suggested that the acceptability of an indoor thermal environment is influenced by gender, birthplace, and living habits [15]. ...
The number of colleges and universities in China has been increasing year by year. University buildings have tremendous energy-saving potential due to their high personnel density and energy consumption demand. However, there is a lack of research and regulations focusing on such buildings and taking functional requirements, operating patterns, and climate conditions into account. In the HSCW zone of China, the overlap of energy consumption peak and universities’ winter and summer vacations will lead to improper or excessive implementation of energy-saving measures in practice. This research study on a university teaching building in Shanghai simulated the energy consumption with EnergyPlus (Version 22.1.0) to compare the variation trend of the building’s energy consumption (heating, cooling and annual energy consumption) under different design parameter settings. The influence of orientation and window–wall ratio on the energy consumption intensity of classrooms of various sizes was analyzed, and design strategies were proposed. The research indicates that the annual energy consumption of educational buildings in hot summer and cold winter areas can be reduced by approximately 44.4% during vacations. However, cooling energy consumption remains 18.0–19.4% greater than heating energy consumption. The energy intensity of classrooms decreases as the space size increases. Medium-sized classrooms, with an energy intensity ranging from 44.2–47.6 kWh/m2, require priority in energy-efficient design owing to their considerable quantity and high utilization. The findings offer design suggestions for the optimal orientation and window-to-wall ratios of classrooms of different scales, which can be used as a reference for the design of university teaching buildings and the energy-saving retrofit of existing campus buildings.
... The section dedicated to the internal climate gathered the insights of occupants and users of the buildings documented. That is, the information gathered in this section is mostly qualitative data, some sort of structured Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) [45] was conducted in only seven cases. ...
This study presents an in-depth analysis of 69 case studies focusing on the energy retrofit of historic buildings, uncovering challenges, best practices, and lessons learned to balance energy efficiency improvements with heritage preservation. The findings highlight several challenges encountered during renovations, such as complex heritage evaluations, restrictions on alterations, coordination issues with authorities, technical limitations, higher investment costs, and knowledge gaps. On the other hand, identifying factors promoting renovation, including demonstrating energy savings while respecting heritage, early collaboration between planners and authorities, and quantifying investments, could incentivize owners and authorities. The limitations of a still-limited sample size, occasional incomplete data, and potential sample bias call for cautious interpretation of the presented analysis. Despite these, the study provides valuable insights into successful projects, emphasizing the need for scalability, knowledge transfer from innovative policies, and targeted policy-making for successful replication. The study concludes with a call for further development of the HiBERatlas (Historic Building Energy Retrofit atlas), an extensive resource for historic building renovation, expanding its database, collaborating with agencies, and tailoring guidance for stakeholders to foster energy retrofits in heritage buildings.
... In recent years, the number of reports documenting the correlation between architectural characteristics and the direct environmental impact has increased [77,78]. In Spain, numerous schools have reported that they could not satisfy the current indoor environmental regulations and requirements for school buildings [79]. For instance, analyses of existing schools in Spain show that many of them do not meet the current sustainability requirements due to their conformity with old mechanisms, guidelines, and criteria [80,81]. ...
Due to the fact that construction, maintenance, and operation of buildings consume almost 40% of global
energy today, architects play a major role in the reduction of world energy consumption. Building’s
façades can have a significant and measurable impact on the economic, environmental, and social
performances by edifices, and their retrofit is seen as a key solution to the problem of today’s
aging building stock. Concerning overheating and the potential loss of internal heat, transparent parts
of the building façade have a large effect on the building’s energy consumption. Within this context, the
use of intelligent systems on architecture envelopes can fulfill contemporary demands as promising
solutions regarding energy efficiency, emissions, or the degree of visual contact in building
environments.
In Spain, boom periods of construction combined with typical building styles of each period, have
resulted in a large stock of aging educational buildings at risk of structural vacancy and obsolescence.
Despite their lack of insulation, high air infiltration, and solar gain, many such edifices from the 1970s-
1980s are still in use today. Moreover, the majority of today's buildings will still be in use in 2050
based on the Spanish edifices' annual replacement rate of 3% according to the European Commission.
The main objective of this Ph.D. thesis is to analyze, develop and promote intelligent services to
existing façades to optimize these buildings' economic, environmental, and social sustainability
performances through a holistic and innovative sustainability assessment model.
To do so, the first phases of this thesis, the author carried out a deep documental investigation on more
than 800 research articles regarding intelligent façade systems, advancements in material engineering,
user demands, automations, and their sustainability performance following the preferred reporting items
for systematic reviews and meta-analyses reporting standards.
Based on the results from preliminary investigations, different low-cost and environmental-friendly
dynamic façades have been prototyped in the context of the Spanish public schools targeting
pupils' academic progress through optimizing the lighting and thermal comfort levels. These
prototypes have been developed by employing municipal solid waste materials during
participatory workshops with school pupils. This concept is expected to promote awareness and better
management of our society's critical waste generation by returning waste to the reusing cycle.
From the data collected, researchers found that intelligent façade design and application result from
a complex decision-making process. The cost and long-term nature of the investment mean that the
façade decision is strategic. Accordingly, the next phase examined the actuality of intelligent façade
projects in practice through conducting in-depth exploratory methodologies and tools for analyzing,
evaluating, and designing among the incorporation of interdisciplinary experts in the topic. Finally, the
last phase experimentally monitored and tested the developed prototypes and other test samples of
various waste items.
The findings show that the process of façade retrofit that fulfills the school building functioning, energy
performance, emissions, costs, and appearance, requires the realm of the profession. The members
involved in the retrofitting projects of public primary school buildings mainly had to make initial façade
design decisions based on ideas resulting from cognition and drawing on experience.
This thesis and its subsequent conceptual framework provide a new overview of waste-based
construction materials and their introduction to developing intelligent façade technologies,
through scientific indexes that can be useful for occupants, builders, architects, and policymakers to
have a good understanding of the potential contributions that intelligent façades provide.
... For the collection of TSV, relevant research pointed out that children may have difficulties understanding the concept of thermal comfort and expressing their thermal sensations; thus, the TSV graph should be designed in the most understandable way possible for them [42,43]. ...
Maintaining good indoor air quality and thermal comfort is a challenge for naturally ventilated educational buildings, as it can be difficult to achieve both aspects simultaneously. Nonetheless, most of the existing studies only focus on one aspect. To explore the potential of balancing indoor air quality and thermal comfort, both topics must be investigated concurrently. This study assessed indoor air quality and thermal comfort in 32 naturally ventilated classrooms of 16 primary and secondary schools in the Mediterranean climate, based on a large on-site measurement campaign lasting one year that gathered over 460 hours of data. The research investigated occupants’ adaptive behaviors, analyzed the actual thermal comfort of around 600 students, and characterized the representative scenarios leading to good and poor indoor air quality and thermal comfort by clustering analysis. The results showed that poor indoor air quality was mainly due to closing windows and doors in winter, while thermal discomfort mainly occurred in summer because of the high indoor temperature. The findings suggested that a proper ventilation protocol is the key to balancing indoor air quality and thermal comfort.
... This paper also compares the results obtained to typical building typologies found in the study area. Post occupancy evaluations to monitor indoor environmental conditions and assess occupants' thermal comfort using surveys have similarly been done by [16,21,22] using Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Thermal Sensation Vote (TSV) thermal comfort models. BS EN ISO 7730:2005 [23] describes the Predicted Mean vote (PMV) as an index that predicts the mean value of the votes of a large group of persons exposed to the same environment on the 7-point thermal sensation scale (Table 1), based on the heat balance of the human body. ...
Several studies have shown that the use of upcycled materials for construction is a viable intervention for delivering affordable and adequate housing in low-income communities. However, information regarding the in-situ performance of buildings made from upcycled materials is scarce in the literature. This paper compares the thermal performance of a building with walls made of sand-filled plastic bottles (Bottle House) with two other conventional buildings, one made of mud bricks (Mud House) and another made of sandcrete blocks (Cement House). In order to obtain the thermal sensation vote (TSV) of the occupants, thermal comfort questionnaires were developed based on ISO 7730 standards using the seven-point ASHRAE thermal sensation scale. Also, a Testo 480 multifunction meter which comprised of an anemometer, radiant globe thermometer, air thermometer, and Relative Humidity probe, was used to concurrently calculate the predicted mean vote (PMV). From the results of the thermal sensation votes (TSV) based on the occupant's survey, mean votes from participants of -2.0, 2.0 and 2.5 were observed for the bottle house, mud house and cement house respectively. In comparison, using the extended PMV thermal comfort model better suited for non-air-conditioned buildings in warm climates, adjusted PMV mean values of 1.9, 2.1 and 2.1 were recorded for the bottle house, mud house and cement house respectively. The TSV and PMV results both indicate that occupants of the bottle house felt more thermally comfortable when compared to occupants in the other dwellings. The results of this paper will provide evidence of the prospects of upcycling plastic waste for construction and its impact on occupants' thermal comfort when compared to conventional building materials.
... Formal learning spaces, such as lecture theatres and classrooms, should have characteristics that provide a comfortable learning and teaching environment [1,2]. Thermal comfort is a key component in the quality of indoor environments and it needs to be considered in classroom operations [3,4]. ...
... B (Dry), which is defined by little precipitation, C (temperate), which has the coldest month averaged between 0-18 C and at least one month above 10 C. D (continental), which has at least one month averaged above C ten and at least one month averaging below 0 C, and E (polar), which has every month of the year averaging below 10 C. Figure 1 shows the illustration map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. 58 From the collected data (see Table II), it is observed that most of the studies (58%) were conducted in group C, temperate/mesothermal climates; including Portugal, 30 44 45 55 59 Italy, 9 30 38 60-64 USA, 65 USA and Lebanon, 66 Japan, 67 68 France, 42 48 Turkey, 69 UK, 1 50 70-72 Argentina, 37 China, 32 38 47 73-77 Cyprus, 46 78 79 Taiwan, 80 81 Korea, 82 83 Australia, 33 84 85 Denmark, 34 Spain, 86 Netherlands, 18 49 87 Greece, 35 36 India, 88 Chile, 89 90 Germany, 53 91 Irland, 40 and Brazil. 92 Studies in group A, tropical/mega-thermal climates are the second (23%), which were carried out in countries including Mexico, 93 Malaysia and Japan, 94 Malaysia, [95][96][97][98][99] Brazil, [100][101][102] Singapore, 103 104 India, 31 105-108 Madagascar, 109 Thailand, 110 Indonesia, 111 Ghana, 112 Nigeria, 113 and Japan. ...
Thermal comfort has always been an essential factor that affects students’ productivity and success. Students spend considerable time at their schools or universities more than any other building type except their homes. Thus, indicating the importance of providing thermal comfort in educational buildings. Many studies worldwide are conducted to assess and optimize thermal comfort inside classrooms. However, the results have not been accurate even for similar study conditions due to the differences in the studies’ conditions. This paper focuses on thermal comfort studies in educational buildings (classrooms). The studies are divided into two sections, the first covering field studies methodologies, objective, and subjective questionnaires, and the second reviewing thermal comfort results based on the climatic zone, educational level, and analysis approach. It is recommended that thermal comfort studies be carried out using rational and adaptive models as they provide more accurate, reliable results. Also, it is found that thermal comfort standards are generally inadequate to assess thermal comfort in classrooms. Thus, other international standards should be created and considered for classroom assessment. Over the past few years, the combination between nanotechnology and architecture engineering has been widely used in several disciplines because of its crucial significance in finding new nanodevices to contribute in reducing of energy consumption, particularly on construction materials. Filling functionalized tools with nanoparticles plays a critical role in improving the thermal and optical properties, particularly with respect to nanofluids applications, i.e., buildings applications of thermal comfort. The experimental results of long-term studies show that the calculation values of optimization have a consistent agreement with the experimental transmission of nanofluids models.
... The research landscape has featured numerous POE studies on a variety of facilities since the 1960s (Sanni-Anibire, 2015). These studies range from medical facilities (Brown et al., 1997;Hassanain et al., 2020;Kotzer et al., 2011), classrooms (Hassanain and Iftikhar, 2015;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017), student housing facilities (Hassanain, 2008;Sanni-Anibire and Hassanain, 2016), higher education facilities (Riley et al., 2010;Sanni-Anibire et al., 2016b) and library, laboratory and research facilities (Hassanain and Mudhei, 2006;Mahmoud et al., 2019). Some research works have been directed toward building assessments of the sustainable environmental aspects of buildings. ...
Purpose
This study aims to present the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of a smart building on a university campus.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature review was conducted to report on the smart building concept and POE. A total of 49 performance indicators, classified according to the technical, functional and behavioral elements, were investigated. A case study of a smart building in a university campus was selected to assess the users’ satisfaction through POE. A total of 90 users from the academic and administrative staff of the building were contacted through a Web-based questionnaire survey, while 35 usable responses were obtained.
Findings
The findings revealed that the occupants were satisfied with several aspects of the building performance indicators; however, issues related to ventilation, control of thermostats, amount of natural lighting through low-E windows and privacy were identified. Ultimately, the study reveals that, although the adoption of smart technologies has the potential to provide an excellent and comfortable work environment, the efficient selection and/or maintenance of the adopted technologies is crucial.
Originality/value
The concept of smart buildings is perceived to be the future of the industry. Despite this growing need for “smartization,” the performance of a building ultimately depends on how it satisfies the needs of those who use them. The value and implication of this study is inherent in its emphasis on the satisfaction of buildings users in futuristic designs of buildings. The study shows that POEs can be used to assess the satisfaction of users of smart buildings to understand what works, as well as what needs redesign or improvement.
... In the study, post-occupancy surveys were used to assess the adaptation of buildings and residents' adaptation to the thermal environment. In [57,58], they assessed thermal comfort in schools and historical museum buildings in Spain. The evaluation of this parameter made it possible to highlight the need to explore the possibilities of lowering indoor temperatures, in particular passively (fabric, shade, insulation, etc.), taking into account the need to avoid or reduce the need for air conditioning to make buildings energy efficient for lower-middle income groups. ...
To improve buildings and their characteristics, the feedback provided directly by users is generally fundamental in order to be able to adapt the technical and structural functions to the well-being of users. The post-occupancy evaluation (POE) fits perfectly into this context. The POE, through qualitative and quantitative information on the interior environment, makes it possible to identify the differences between the performances modeled in the design phase and the real performances experienced by the occupants. This review of 234 articles, published between 2006 and 2022, aims to analyze and compare the recent literature on the application of the POE methodology. The aim was to provide both a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the main factors that comprise the indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The study highlighted the factors that comprise the quality of the indoor environment, as well as the variables that are usually analyzed to describe the well-being of the occupants. The results suggested which are the most common approaches in carrying out POE studies and will identify the factors that most influence the determination of the good quality of an indoor environment.
... Subjective indices were collected through questionnaire, including participants' thermal perception and personal information. Thermal perception was indicated by thermal sensation vote (TSV (Martinez-Molina et al., 2017;Sharmin et al., 2019)), which was the prime focus of the questionnaire. Personal information included residents' age, gender, body conditions, clothing isolation, physical activities etc. (Jin et al., 2020;Lai et al., 2014;Ma et al., 2021) as these were the influential factors for their thermal perceptions. ...
Outdoor thermal comfort is significantly relevant to human's quality of life. Thus, it has been frequently studied by investigators. This study explored people's thermal responses to environments and the subjective factors that might affect thermal comforts with respect to two urban parks in Xindu, a satellite city in the Chengdu Plain (CDP). CDP is located at the southwest of China, which has a subtropical climate. The environment from each of the two parks was studied using current micrometeorology and hoped-for landscape changes (tree canopies, artificial canopies, non-canopying plants, and water surfaces); subjective factors included gender, age, body mass index , clothing isolation, and physical activities. It was found that canopies were the most preferred objective cooling elements, while individual thermal perceptions varied subjectively by age. The highest proportion of volunteers voted for tree canopies as their favourite thermal adjusting element. It was observed that those aged above 55 showed low thermal sensitivity. The remaining group's neutral temperatures (indicated by physiologically equivalent temperature, PET) were close, at approximately 25°C. This study provides significant direction for future urban planning and landscape design.
... A similar method was employed in an old Spanish school where a comparison between PMV, TSV and PPD was made for both the educators and the pupils [14]. Another interesting study was realized in the Slovak Republic where the research took place in five classrooms in a special school. ...
Taken as a whole, the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a concept that deals not only with thermal conditions, but it also goes much further, because it includes indoor air quality (IAQ), illuminance or acoustic comfort. Among the different categories of buildings, schools are one of the most important in society especially because future generations are spending more than 6 h/day and ensuring them a healthy and comfortable environment must be top priority. The purposes of this research were to better understand school children’s IEQ preferences and needs in classrooms and to compare these among rural versus urban respondents. To reach this goal, a simple yet complete survey was proposed and, along with measurements, multiple conclusions were made. The methodology proposed was to reach a large sample of respondents to give more credibility and precision to the analysis. The results are based on the responses of 790 occupants both from urban and rural environments. Lack of ventilation, cooling, low or too high temperatures during winter/summer periods and a misappropriate sizing or piloting of the heating system are some of the issues found during the survey. The paper tackles several issues at once, helping to paint a more holistic image of the problems encountered in school classrooms. Optimal thermal comfort is not met during the cold season in any of the schools under investigation. The old rural schools were found to be the worst performing buildings compared to urban schools where due to recent investments in refurbishment the winter thermal comfort was enhanced. During the study, it was observed that one of the major IAQ problems consisted in elevated levels of CO2 or particulate matter especially for the schools situated in the city. Noise was reported as an issue only for the schools situated next to national roads while visual comfort was found to be acceptable for more than 94% of respondents from all regions.
... The questions included age, gender, a checklist of what clothing they were wearing, and a subjective thermal sensation vote (TSV) and thermal preference vote (TPV) based on a seven-point and five-point scale, respectively. Previous studies [35][36][37] recommended using a simple vocabulary to help children easily understand the meaning of each TSV scale. Thus, we used words that were modified from the original expressions used in ASHRAE 55, as shown in Table 3. ...
This study investigated children’s perceptions and adaptive behaviors related to indoor thermal conditions of classrooms in primary schools with no air-conditioning systems during both summer and winter in Dehradun City, Uttarakhand, India. Responses were collected from 5297 school children aged 6–13 years. During the measurement periods, 100% and 94% of the samples were obtained under conditions outside an 80% thermally acceptable comfort range in winter and summer, respectively. The analysis using receiver operating characteristics suggested that the students had the least sensitivity to the temperature variation for all scales of the thermal sensation vote (TSV). Approximately 95.1% of students were “very satisfied”, “satisfied”, or “slightly satisfied” with the thermal conditions under the condition of “extreme caution” or “danger” of heat risk. In contrast, adaptive thermal behaviors, such as adjusting clothing insulation ensembles, opening or closing classroom windows and doors, and utilizing ceiling fans, were found to be the most affordable options for optimizing indoor thermal comfort. Children’s reports of thermal sensations and thermal satisfaction did not correspond to the actual physical environment. This draws attention to the adequacy of applying widely used methods of TSV-based identification of the thermal comfort range in classrooms for children, especially in hot environments. The findings of this study are expected to serve as an evidence-based reference for local governments and authorities to take appropriate measures to mitigate heat risks for schoolchildren in the future.
... Historically, the evaluation of school buildings and educational facilities has been reported for over five decades . Studies have been reported on classrooms (Hassanain and Iftikhar, 2015;Martinez-Molina et al., 2017) and library (Hassanain and Mudhei, 2006) and laboratory facilities (Mahmoud et al., 2019). Specifically, in the domain of school buildings, Scott-Webber et al. (2018) conducted an assessment of four schools in the USA. ...
Purpose
This study aims to develop a set of design quality indicators (DQIs) suitable for the design and evaluation of public schools in terms of their technical, functional and behavioral performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology entailed the review of literature on the design quality of school buildings to identify potential DQIs. Subsequently, the eighty four DQIs were validated through a three-round Delphi evaluation process, with 35 participants in the first round and 28 participants in the second and third rounds. The participants consisted of architects, facility managers, administrators, teachers and students. The results of the Delphi survey were analyzed based on the relative importance index, which was further rated according to the levels of importance.
Findings
The findings from this process revealed that most of the DQIs were categorized as extremely important and very important.
Originality/value
The design quality of school buildings is crucial to the success of a community’s social life and educational process. However, the lack of a set of DQIs has hindered the potential to benchmark similar facilities and derived lesson learned. The value of the DQIs is in its potential application as a design tool for proposed school buildings, as well as for facility audit of existing school buildings.
... The results of the research by Vimalanathd and Ramesh Babu [33] showed that both temperature and lighting influence the productivity of office workers. Interesting measurements were also carried out in historical buildings [34][35][36][37][38]. In these cases, the modernization and changes of the building structures are extremely limited due to historical values and cultural heritage. ...
Ensuring the comfort and health of occupants is the main objective of properly functioning building systems. Regardless of the season and building types, it is the priority of the designers and building managers. The indoor air parameters affect both the well-being and health of users. Furthermore, it could impact the effectiveness of their work and concentration abilities. In hotel facilities, the guests’ comfort is related directly to positive opinions or customer complaints, which is related to financial benefits or losses. The main goal of this study is the analysis of the indoor environmental quality in guests’ rooms, based on the example of a hotel in Poland. The article assesses the variability of air parameters, including temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentrations, and the acceptability of indoor conditions. The research was carried out in November 2020. Based on the collected data, the dynamics of changes of selected air parameters were analyzed. The article analyzes the comfort indicators inside guest rooms, including the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage of the Dissatisfied (PPD) index. The obtained results were compared with the optimal conditions of use to ensure the guests’ comfort. As the analysis showed, the temperature and humidity conditions are maintained at a satisfactory level for most of the time. It was noticed that the CO2 concentrations temporarily exceeded the value of 2000 ppm in two of the analyzed guests’ rooms, which could cause discomfort to hotel guests. In these rooms, the increase in the volume of ventilation airflow should be considered. The measured parameters dynamically varied over time, and there was no repeatability or clear patterns of variation. This is due to the individual preferences and behavior of users. A detailed analysis is extremely difficult due to the possibility of opening windows by users, the irregular presence of hotel guests in the rooms, and the inability to verify the exact number of users in the room during the measurements.
... O Conforto Térmico é definido como um estado de espiríto que retrata o grau de satisfação das pessoas com o ambiente térmico (ASHRAE 55, 2021). Para fins de análise, Fanger desenvolveu um modelo chamado de Predicted Mean Vote (PMV), capaz de predizer a percepção térmica em uma escala de 7 pontos referente ao equilíbrio térrmico do corpo humano (MARTINEZ-MOLINA et al., 2017). ...
Resumo: O Conforto Térmico se tornou uma prioridade em ambientes para saúde, eficiência, qualidade de vida ou economia de energia. Fanger desenvolveu o modelo do PMV, capaz de predizer a sensação térmica dos indivíduos, porém, costuma subestimar ou superestimar a realidade térmica. O objetivo deste artigo foi verificar os principais estudos da última década que tentaram reduzir essas diferenças por meio de modelos alternativos. Foi realizada uma Breve Revisão de Literatura com o auxílio do software StArt. Os resultados apresentam reflexões sobre os países de origem das pesquisas, mudanças nos modelos e métodos desenvolvidos. Diante das questões apresentadas, os novos modelos e adaptações têm contribuído para a redução de inconsistências nas respostas térmicas, economia de energia, entre outros. Palavras-chave: Conforto Térmico, PMV, Modelo Adaptativo, Revisão de Literatura. Thermal comfort models: a short literature review over the last 10 years
Abstract: Thermal Comfort has become a priority in environments for health, efficiency, quality of life and energy savings. In the 1970s, Fanger developed the PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) model, capable of predicting the thermal sensation of individuals. However, this model usually underestimates or overestimates the real thermal sensation, obtained in field studies. The main objective of this article was to verify the main studies in the last decade that tried to reduce these differences by means of alternative models. A Short Literature Review was conducted with the aid of the StArt software. The results present the countries of origin of the research, changes performed in the models and their developed. Given the issues presented, the new models and adaptations have contributed to the reduction of inconsistencies in thermal responses and energy savings.
... Another study conducted by Martínez-Molina et al. on a post-occupancy thermal comfort assessment in a primary school focused on the building's energy adaptation and improvement. A post-occupancy evaluation (POE), in which the sample size was the classroom [22], was performed. Standard PMV and PPD values for both students and teachers were calculated, and then, a survey about their comfort level was conducted. ...
This paper focuses on the use of Bayesian networks for the industrial thermal comfort issue, specifically in industries in Northern Argentina. Mined data sets that are analyzed and exploited with WEKA and ELVIRA tools are discussed. Thus, networks giving the predictive value of thermal comfort for different pairs of indoor temperature and humidity values according to activity, time, and season, verified in the workplace, were obtained. The results obtained were compared to other statistical models of linear regression used for thermal comfort, thus observing that comfort temperature values are within a same range, yet the network offered more information since a range of options for interior design parameters (temperature/relative humidity) was offered for different work, time, and season conditions. Additionally, if compared with static models of heat exchange, the contribution of Bayesian networks is noted when considering a context of actual operability and adaptability conditions to the environment, which is promising for developing thermal comfort intelligent systems, especially for the development of sustainable settings within the Industry 4.0 paradigm.
... Research on environmental quality (IEQ) in schools generally refers to one or two aspects of the four. Even the most recent research deals with these topics separately, such as the post-occupational assessment of thermal comfort and its congruence with the existing thermal comfort models [20]. Thermal comfort and air quality, air quality and acoustics, without considering all the factors that influence the environmental quality of the spaces. ...
Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a broad concept, which seeks to define when a built space provides welfare to its occupants. In general, it is defined as the condition of thermal, visual, acoustic and air quality comfort and depends on multiple factors. In the case of school buildings, the relevance of IEQ is related to its effects on the wellbeing, health and performance of the students and teachers. This research summarizes previous studies of IEQ from a multivariable perspective to prove that this research area needs to be further developed. Previous results show that an integrated analysis of IEQ parameters could better understand the IEQ perception of their occupants. Research on IEQ in schools generally refers to one or two aspects of the four. Even the most recent research deals with these topics separately, without using a systemic approach. The reductionism generated by isolating parameters allows us to study a parameter in detail but does not evaluate the environmental quality of the space. This is why new metrics are necessary to describe, assess and compare IEQ in educational spaces under a systemic approach.
... At this educational stage, in most cases children prefer cooler environments, showing that the PMV model underestimates mean thermal sensation up to 1.5 scale point [53], and children present comfort temperatures about 4 • C to 2 • C lower than the predictions from rational and adaptive models, respectively [54]. It is also important to highlight the differences between Sustainability 2021, 13, 10315 6 of 28 children's and teachers' thermal sensation [55], as it is more difficult to reach thermal comfort for pupils. Indeed, children present with a lower comfort temperature [56], at least 3 • C lower than adults during cooling seasons [57], and they are also less sensitive to temperature changes than adults [11]. ...
The thermal environment in educational buildings is crucial to improve students’ health and productivity, as they spend a considerable amount of time in classrooms. Due to the complexity of educational buildings, research performed has been heterogeneous and standards for thermal comfort are based on office studies with adults. Moreover, they rely on single dose-response models that do not account for interactions with other environmental factors, or students’ individual preferences and needs. A literature study was performed on thermal comfort in educational buildings comprising of 143 field studies, to identify all possible confounding parameters involved in thermal perception. Educational stage, climate zone, model adopted to investigate comfort, and operation mode were then selected as confounding parameters and discussed to delineate the priorities for future research. Results showed that children often present with different thermal sensations than adults, which should be considered in the design of energy-efficient and comfortable educational environments. Furthermore, the use of different models to analyse comfort can influence field studies’ outcomes and should be carefully investigated. It is concluded that future studies should focus on a more rational evaluation of thermal comfort, also considering the effect that local discomfort can have on the perception of an environment. Moreover, it is important to carefully assess possible relationships between HVAC systems, building envelope, and thermal comfort, including their effect on energy consumption. Since several studies showed that the perception of the environment does not concern thermal comfort only, but it involves the aspects of indoor air, acoustic, and visual quality, their effect on the health and performance of the students should be assessed. This paper provides a way forward for researchers, which should aim to have an integrated approach through considering the positive effects of indoor exposure while considering possible individual differences.
Resumen El objetivo de esta investigación es realizar un estudio exhaustivo sobre el confort térmico y el consumo energético del Liceo Técnico Profesional El Sauce de Talca. A través de un análisis detallado, se evalúan los patrones de consumo de energía en el Liceo, identificando áreas de eficiencia y posibles oportunidades de mejora. Se utilizan herramientas y metodologías específicas para recopilar datos precisos sobre el uso de electricidad, agua y otros recursos energéticos. Los resultados obtenidos permiten proponer recomendaciones y estrategias para optimizar el consumo energético, reducir costos y promover prácticas sostenibles dentro del establecimiento educativo. Este diagnóstico energético ofrece una base sólida para la implementación de medidas de eficiencia energética que beneficien tanto al Liceo como al ambiente. Palabras clave: Confort térmico, Método de Fanger, Chile, Satisfacción térmica. Abstract The aim of this research is to conduct a comprehensive study on the thermal comfort and energy consumption of Liceo El Sauce de Talca. Through a detailed analysis, the energy consumption patterns at the school are evaluated, identifying areas of efficiency and potential opportunities for improvement. Specific tools and methodologies are used to gather precise data on the use of electricity, water, and other energy resources. The results obtained allow for the proposal of recommendations and strategies to optimize energy consumption, reduce costs, and promote sustainable practices within the educational establishment. This energy diagnosis provides a solid foundation for the implementation of energy efficiency measures that benefit both the school and the environment. Introducción El sistema educativo en su conjunto debe estar constantemente actualizando contenidos, normativa o marcos regulatorios que vayan en mejora del estándar educacional. Hoy, lo que se requiere en los programas vigentes es mejorar la infraestructura mediante remodelación de los espacios educativos de acuerdo a la superficie por alumno (m 2 /alumno), sumando nuevos espacios educativos de acuerdo a un nivel de construcción acorde a certificación CES (Construcción de Edificaciones Sustentables), para contribuir a la integración y aplicación del alumnado en diferentes ámbitos (investigación, proyectos de innovación, talleres prácticos, acercamiento a la universidad, entre otros) (Salazar-Vera, 2022; Alhilli y Burhan, 2021; Peterssen-Soffia, 2020). Estos factores, están directamente orientados a mejorar las condiciones de habitabilidad (confort), ya que una significativa inversión en esta materia irá en vías del desarrollo cultural, tecnológico y motivacional para los mismos alumnos (Lamberti et al., 2021; Rodríguez et al., 2021; Zomorodian et al., 2016).
The thermal comfort models defined in existing standards are usually ineffective in predicting students' mean thermal sensation. Accordingly, overheating and overcooling are frequently reported, which affect students’ well-being and cause unnecessary energy waste. Existing studies have not further explored the model improvement strategies for educational buildings. Hence, this research aims to improve the mean thermal sensation prediction model for students in naturally ventilated schools by incorporating correlated factors, based on a holistic field survey in the Mediterranean climate. The results indicate that the modified extended predicted mean vote of thermal adaptations reinforced around thermal neutrality has the highest accuracy among all validated adaptive predicted mean vote models. However, the performance of the adaptive predicted mean vote models is limited by the deficiencies of the original predicted mean vote model. The overall performance of the improved models was doubled after introducing the identified correlated factors, but the intrinsic error of the predicted mean vote index can slightly affect the models. As a result, the improved model built directly with the identified correlated factors achieved the best performance. Moreover, the potential of the machine learning models is limited by the volume of the mean thermal sensation vote data that can often be obtained, therefore conventional models such as multiple linear regression can be considered an effective and practical tool for developing the mean thermal sensation vote models. The findings of this study benefit the well-being of students and the energy conservation of educational buildings.
La producción y generación de nuevas tecnologías crecen de forma indescifrable, en un entorno de constante cambio económica y es la característica del Siglo 21. Así, la educación desempeña un papel fundamental para el éxito individual y de la sociedad en su totalidad. De tal manera que, el objetivo de la presente investigación fue indagar sobre los conocimientos de los docentes de educación general básica en la relación con el aprendizaje significativo en el Distrito 13D07, provincia de Manabí. Se encuestaron aleatoriamente 76 docentes con un error muestral del 5%. Se aplicaron metodologías del análisis de componentes principales. Como resultados se obtuvo: Seis componentes explicaron el 85.7% de la variabilidad de la matriz analizada. Los seis componentes identificados fueron: metodología activa; factores que afectan el aprendizaje, formación en aprendizaje significativo, reflexión oral y escrita, análisis y síntesis de lecturas, estudio de caso como potencial efectivo y reflexivo para la enseñanza, reticencia de los profesores al cambio. La agrupación es el fundamento para aceptar la hipótesis alternativa. No hay homogeneidad y claridad sobre el aprendizaje significativo como pretende el Ministerio de Educación ecuatoriano. Los resultados no concuerdan con las demandas de la educación actual, que exige un aprendizaje basado en el desarrollo, utilizando el conocimiento para resolver problemas del mundo real. Colaborando con las comunidades productivas, dando lugar a prácticas equitativas. Todo ello redunda en la consecución de oportunidades, que contribuyen a sociedades más justas para los educandos.
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Proper indoor air quality and thermal comfort ensure healthy indoor environment where people live and work. The measurements in the paper were performed in the public utility, smart building as known “Energis” located on the campus of Kielce University of Technology (Poland). A group of student volunteers took part in the study. The anonymous questionnaires were used to assess their thermal sensations, preferences and acceptability before and after the lecture. At the same time carbon dioxide level, air and ambient temperatures, relative humidity as well as air velocity were recorded using the Testo 400 microclimate meter. The relationship between the changing air parameters throughout the one hour period of measurements, together with the test results from the questionnaire survey provides information on the possibility of providing high thermal comfort and indoor air quality in the smart buildings, which are still quite rare throughout the world and especially in developing countries like Central and Eastern Europe. The analysis of the obtained results showed that, despite the increase in CO2 in the room, the students felt better at the end of the class than at the beginning. No other sources of discomfort were observed during the test (rising temperature, draft, too warm or light clothing, etc.).
Thermal comfort in educational buildings affects not only the well-being of students but also their academic performance. Over time, various methods have been developed to assess it. However, none of them takes into account the adaptation of students of different ages, which is an important issue. In recent years, the study of thermal comfort has become very important due to energy-saving measures and ventilation protocols to combat the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Therefore, it is necessary to gather all the information to guide future research. Thus, this paper presents a comprehensive review of field studies on thermal comfort in classrooms at different educational levels. The focus is on those conducted during the global pandemic of COVID-19. It has been observed that students from climates with a higher degree of variation have shown a better adaptation. Children also tended to feel less affected by changing temperatures. High school and university students showed a greater range of dissatisfaction with heat than with cold. The adaptive approach is more suitable for recognising the comfort needs of all age groups. However, by using this approach together with the Fanger method, more reliable results have been reported. In most of the studies, comfort levels were found to be lower than those indicated by the standards, highlighting the need for guidelines adapted to the thermal comfort conditions of all students. Finally, the various natural ventilation measures to avoid COVID-19 infection have led to a decrease in comfort levels, especially in winter.
The building sector is one of the most resource-exhausting areas in global energy consumption. Maintaining good thermal comfort for occupants is the leading energy demand in buildings. The primary purpose of the current study is to identify the development of research areas on occupant comfort, pinpoint the gaps in knowledge and recommend directions for future studies. A scientometric analysis and a comprehensive systematic literature review are conducted using 792 sources. It is evident from the exponential increase in published papers that scholars are highly interested in this research topic. However, discrepancies remain between the two fundamental models of evaluating thermal comfort. There is a pressing need to balance thermal comfort while increasing energy efficiency. The foundation of achieving this balance can only be done by correctly evaluating the surrounding environment of occupants and understanding all the factors influencing human thermal comfort conditions. There is also a high potential in employing industry 4.0 technologies to assist in designing more innovative solutions for thermal comfort. Furthermore, there is a need for local thermal standards targeting specific regions. The lack of interoperability between 3D building information modeling (BIM) and energy simulation tools remains an obstacle.
The availability of the global thermal open database means that machine learning models have been increasingly
applied in thermal comfort studies in order to understand the factors and mechanisms that affect human thermal
sensation. Previous global database analyses focused less on classroom thermal comfort, however, and more on
model accuracy, while model interpretation was usually ignored, and individual differences and interaction
effects are particularly poorly explained. This study screened 4527 related records about classrooms from the
ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II, and used the cleaned data to train a hybrid model of extreme
gradient boosting (XGBoost) and Bayesian optimisation (BO). SHAP values were used to interpret the machine
learning model. The results identified ten key influencing factors that are associated with thermal comfort,
although their importance varies among individuals. The effects of the factors can also be divided into main
effects (80%) and interactive effects (20%), and some interactive effects are more potent than the main effect.
Three typical types of interactive effects are concluded: two-way interaction, one-way interaction, and cross�interaction. This study was based on a comprehensive global database and an innovative machine learning
method, and will lead to a more robust personal comfort model (PCM) that guides HVAC design and regulation
development in order to meet thermal environment and energy-saving requirements.
Children differ from adults in their physiology and cognitive ability. Thus, they are extremely vulnerable to classroom thermal comfort. However, very few reviews on the thermal comfort of primary school students are available. Further, children-focused surveys have not reviewed the state-of-the-art in thermal comfort prediction using machine learning (AI/ML). Consequently, there is a need for discussion on children-specific challenges in AI/ML-based prediction. This article bridges these research gaps. It presents a comprehensive review of thermal comfort studies in primary school classrooms since 1962. It considers both conventional (non-ML) studies and the recent AI/ML studies performed for children, classrooms, and primary students. It also underscores the importance of AI/ML prediction by analyzing adaptive opportunities for children/students in classrooms. Thereafter, a review of AI/ML-based prediction studies is presented. Through an AI/ML case-study, it demonstrates that model performance for children and adults differs markedly. Performance of classification models trained on ASHRAE-II database and a recent primary students’ dataset shows a 29% difference in thermal sensation and 86% difference in thermal preference, between adults and children. It then highlights three major children-specific AI/ML challenges, viz., “illogical votes”, “multiple comfort metrics”, and “extreme class imbalance”. Finally, it offers several technical solutions and discusses open problems.
ABSTRACT: The evolution and characteristics of school buildings are connected with the wider historical-political characteristics of each region, as well as the available building materials and techniques. The construction of school buildings in Greece was systematized during the 19th c. whereas by the middle of the 20th c. numerous schools had been built. In the present study, historic schools of the Municipality of Emmanuel Pappas of Serres are recorded and presented, specifically, 11 stone school buildings located in 8 settlements of the Municipal Unit of Emmanuel Pappas. Main architectural and constructional aspects of the buildings were studied and documented, in parallel to their hosting settlements' history. From the evaluation of the results it emerged that the buildings were constructed in the wider period of 1897-1955, while they are furthermore classified in 3 historic phases and, to a certain point, they present a similar typology. They are built with stone masonry, consisting of 1-3 floors, they have a rectangular floor plan and simple decoration. Many other elements reflect their historic value and testify their contribution in the fields of architecture and the history of education and culture in Greece.
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ: Η εξέλιξη και τα χαρακτηριστικά των σχολικών κτιρίων συνδέονται με τα ευρύτερα ιστορικο-πολιτικά χαρακτηριστικά κάθε τόπου καθώς και τα διαθέσιμα υλικά και τεχνικές δόμησης. Στην Ελλάδα η κατασκευή σχολικών κτιρίων συστηματοποιήθηκε κατά τον 19ο αιώνα ενώ μέχρι τα μέσα του 20ου αιώνα θεμελιώθηκαν πολυάριθμα σχολεία. Στην παρούσα εργασία καταγράφονται και παρουσιάζονται ιστορικά σχολεία του Δήμου Εμμανουήλ Παππά Σερρών και, συγκεκριμένα, 11 λιθόκτιστα σχολικά κτίρια που βρίσκονται σε 8 οικισμούς της Δημοτικής Ενότητας Εμμανουήλ Παππά. Μελετήθηκαν αρχιτεκτονικά και κατασκευαστικά χαρακτηριστικά των κτιρίων, παράλληλα με αναφορές στην ιστορία των οικισμών που τα φιλοξενούν. Από την αξιολόγηση των αποτελεσμάτων προέκυψε ότι τα κτίρια κατασκευάστηκαν την ευρύτερη περίοδο 1897-1955, ενώ κατατάσσονται σε 3 ιστορικές φάσεις και, ως έναν βαθμό, παρουσιάζουν παραπλήσια τυπολογία. Είναι λιθόκτιστα, με 1-3 ορόφους, ορθογωνική κάτοψη και λιτή διακόσμηση. Πλήθος άλλων στοιχείων αντανακλούν την ιστορική τους πορεία και μαρτυρούν τη συμβολή τους στους τομείς της αρχιτεκτονικής και της νεότερης ιστορίας της εκπαίδευσης και του πολιτισμού μας. Λέξεις κλειδιά: Λιθόκτιστα σχολεία, σχολικά κτίρια, σχολική αρχιτεκτονική, αρχιτεκτονική-κατασκευαστική ταυτότητα, Δήμος Εμμανουήλ Παππά Σερρών, Δαρνακοχώρια.
In recent years, the waterway navigation and transportation industry has been developing rapidly, and the living environment of ship cabins has not received much attention. Using questionnaire surveys, data collection and computer simulations, this study explored the problems and causes related to thermal comfort that affect a crew living onboard. The survey showed differences in the thermal sensations of the crew. Cabins below the deck of a ship are usually more comfortable than those above deck. These differences were related to the range of frequent activities undertaken in the cabins. The data and calculations show that the thermal comfort in the stern winch cabin and the engine cabin was significantly higher than in the top living cabin and the meeting cabin. For cabins without windows in winter, the PMV and PPD indexes of those below deck were on average 11.95% higher and 7.03% lower, respectively, than those above deck, indicating better overall thermal comfort below deck. The simulation showed that the simulated PMV of an occupied cabin was up to 17.55% higher than the actual PMV, indicating that the number of crew members in the cabin significantly affected its level of thermal comfort. The results provide a reference for understanding and improving the thermal environment of ships and temporary water facilities.
In the last few decades, building design has been shifting toward more energy-efficient and better-performing buildings. Although the main focus is usually on the reduction of energy use for the operation and construction of buildings, the awareness regarding the benefits of higher occupant comfort and health has shifted the focus toward a more holistic treatment of building design. The exposed notion was further emphasized during the last two and a half years. Firstly, the COVID-19 pandemic and the realization that the indoor environment is directly related to occupants' health, and secondly, the energy insecurity fulled by the Ukrainian war. Therefore, we have to realize that contemporary high-performance buildings will not only have to be energy efficient but will also have to address synergetic interconnectedness between indoor environment, user health and comfort while at the same time being sustainable and resilient. A task that is not easily achieved and is further complicated by the issues of the present anthropogenically induced global warming that necessitates adaptation of buildings to the future climate already during the design phase. With the exposed complexity and interconnectedness of parameters influencing the design of high-performance buildings, a crucial research question emerges – "how to accomplish appropriate optimization among opposing and contrasting demands of different fields governing the design of high-performance buildings?" This question, of course, is not answered in the present reprint book of a Special Issue of the Sustainability journal. Nevertheless, papers published in it represent essential contributions that broaden the knowledge in the field of architectural engineering and, as such, provide a small but valuable contribution to creating a sustainable and resilient built environment.
The content of the Special Issue and the present reprint book can be roughly divided into two parts. The first one includes papers primarily concerned with the functioning of the building and its components concerning energy use. In contrast, the second part addresses the occupant's comfort concerning the building. The book's first part consists of chapters 1 to 5 and covers some interesting aspects related to building design. Chapter 1 deals with building envelope optimization, and integration of passive cooling measures in buildings design by adopting a building simulation approach. Chapter 2 highlights the risks associated with buildings designed with the bioclimatic approach in the context of uncertain future climates. This chapter especially talks about the overheating problem in central Europe's residential buildings. Chapter 3 mentions retrofitting buildings with phage change materials and aerogel to adapt the building to extreme heatwave conditions. It also reports that using the above materials significantly reduces energy use, peak cooling load, CO2 emissions and operational energy cost for a typical Australian house in the Melbourne climate. Chapter 4 highlights the impact of the building shape factor on energy demand and CO2 emission in the cold Oceanic climate of southern Chile. Through case studies, the authors concluded that a shape factor below 0.767 leads to a decrease in energy demand under the studied climate. Chapter 5 addresses the issue of the urban heat island effect (UHI) and associated energy consumption in buildings. Through the paper, the authors conducted a systematic literature review of white roofing materials in emerging economies in the context of parameters such as energy performance cost-benefit, maintenance and consumer indifference.
The second part of the book consists of chapters 6 to chapter 9. An adaptive thermal comfort study in university hostel dormitories is presented in chapter 6 of the book. This chapter put forth the characteristics of the subject's seasonal thermal perception and adaptive actions to restore comfort in the hostel dormitories of the composite climate of India. Chapter 7 reflects the impact of the high albedo materials used in the tall buildings on pedestrian streets in an urban environment. Authors in their study found that diffusely reflective façades did not increase the incident radiation at the pedestrian level by more than 30%. However, in the case of a specular reflective façade, the situation worsened due to an increase in incident radiation by 100% to 300% and should therefore be avoided. A student spends a considerable amount of time in education buildings during her or his education, starting from kindergarten to the university level. It is also evident from the published research that adequate thermal comfort impacts students' learning curve. Chapter 8 of the book highlights the recent advancement in thermal comfort in educational buildings and the associated issues. Lastly, Chapter 9, through the literature review, addresses the parameters that affect thermal comfort and the instruments used in field surveys to record thermal comfort parameters. This chapter emphasized understanding occupant's behaviour and individualized approaches.
Ultimately, we must acknowledge that the Special Issue and this reprint book would not exist without the authors' contributions. Therefore, we thank everyone for their valuable and interesting contributions that will undoubtedly increase our knowledge in the field of high-performing buildings. Of course, the Special Issue would never have come about without the opportunity to edit it given to us by the MDPI and the editorial board of the Sustainability journal, for which we are grateful. Lastly, we would like to extend appreciation for support to our families, loved ones and our current and past colleagues that have all in some way contributed to the creation of the reprint book and Special Issue.
Office occupants spend most of their time in an enclosed indoor environment, controlled by heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems especially in subtropical regions owing to the hot and humid climate. A reasonable indoor environment evaluation model is necessary to achieve the reliable control of HVAC systems that satisfies the occupants’ health and comfort needs. However, traditional HVAC systems are controlled based on a simple index that does not consider the synthesis of indoor air quality, thermal comfort and occupant preferences. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive evaluation model that encompasses these three aspects based on field survey. Field surveys were conducted to investigate indoor environmental conditions and preferences of the occupants. Collected data were then verified for model hypothesis rationality and reviewed to identify weighting factors using Pearson and regression analysis. Results showed that these parameters had significant correlations without noticeable collinearity and can be integrated using regression method. The weighting factors of each parameter were calculated using occupants’ sensation and expectation to reflect the subjective preferences in model. Finally, an evaluation model expressing the indoor thermal, air quality and occupant preferences was developed to provide an HVAC intelligent control system that is more responsive to occupant needs.
Since the Italian school buildings cause huge energy waste, it is increasingly compelling to identify, quantify and eliminate energy deficits through integrated audits and coordinated actions of energy saving and retrofit. We developed a methodology that is based on a holistic approach that correlates students’ post occupancy evaluation with instrumental survey and software simulations and, at the same time, we examined an innovative use of virtual tour to make the energy audit results friendly available to school managers and community. This methodology, validated on a school building of the 20s-30s, identified energy saving and retrofitting actions according to cost levels.
This work presents an assessment of schools’ indoor environmental quality, based on investigations carried out in three Italian classrooms in Treviso, in the North-East of Italy. A first monitoring campaign was performed during the mid season (May-June), a second one during the heating period (January-February). At a first stage, the study was focused on two different approaches, an objective and a subjective one, in order to compare the objective responses with the occupants’ subjective sensations. The first method consisted of physical observations and field measurements of thermal environmental parameters, used to calculate Fanger's comfort indices and to apply a comfort adaptive model. The subjective approach was managed by giving students and teachers a survey about their personal judgment concerning the level of comfort perceived. Finally, a simulation model has been built-up and calibrated using the indoor values of air temperature and air humidity trends collected by data loggers. A generic optimization program has been used to calibrate the thermal model. The responses from measurements, surveys and simulations were integrated, analyzed and compared, obtaining a good agreement between the three approaches in assessing the classroom thermal comfort category.
The typical orientation of the facades of school buildings, along with the presence of large windows and permanent position of the students, can create uncomfortable environmental conditions caused by eye strain due to glare and local thermal discomfort due to asymmetrical thermal radiation. In this work, the effectiveness of various types of high performance glazing and external shading is evaluated, by means of simulations of visual comfort and energy efficiency. Simulations were carried out for a case study which is representative of a typical classroom of a school, located in a town of Tuscany, where instrumental monitoring of existing thermal and lighting conditions was conducted. The case study was selected through an analysis of energy consumption of the whole school building stock of the city, over a period of five years. The analysis has allowed to select the most critical one in terms of energy consumption and the most representative one regarding the Italian school building stock. The selected building has been analyzed by means of building performance simulation software. A survey about the school users’ perception of comfort levels was also carried out by means of questionnaires.
Mosques are distinguished from other types of buildings by having an intermittent operation schedule. They are partially or fully occupied five times a day and the maximum occupancy is expected to occur on Friday prayers. As buildings with intermittent occupancy may not perform the same thermally as typical commercial and residential facilities, thermal comfort conditions and perception of occupants have to be investigated. This paper presents the results of a study monitoring indoor environmental conditions of a mosque in order to assess thermal comfort conditions. A historic mosque, which is located in a hot and humid climatic region of Turkey, was selected as a test building and thermal comfort conditions were monitored during two Friday prayers in August and September. Indoor air temperature, relative humidity and air velocity were collected via data loggers. The predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) indices were calculated and evaluated using the ASHRAE 55-2010 standard. In addition to this, a questionnaire based on Fanger's seven-point scale was conducted to understand the thermal sensation and preference of occupants. A comparison is provided to highlight the difference between the calculated and perceived satisfaction of occupants.
The examination of the Italian and European legislative and regulatory framework, and the analysis of some relevant survey campaigns of the national school building stock show an alarming situation, as well as some missed opportunities. Despite the fact that operations promoted by the Government haven’t been effective so far, the European Union encourages deep retrofit interventions towards the standard 'Nearly Zero Energy Buildings'. This approach necessarily implies a systemic knowledge of the buildings, which can be achieved with different levels of detail, through preliminary energy audits, audits, and more detailed and multi-criteria Post-Occupancy Evaluations.
Brandengen Primary School in Norway has historical valuable buildings from 1914, designed by the famous Norwegian architect Arnstein Arneberg. The owner, Drammen Municipality, emphasizes renovation in accordance with the conservation authorities’ request for restoring the façades to be as close as possible to the original historic look. To achieve future high performance building levels when renovating the school, i.e. low energy consumption and good indoor climate conditions, the main measures taken are additional insulation of attic and basement, new windows, and replacement of the oil burner with a geothermal heat pump. The target figure for energy reduction is set to 67%.
Assessments have been made of 153 classrooms in 27 schools in order to identify the impact of the physical classroom features on the academic progress of the 3766 pupils who occupied each of those specific spaces. This study confirms the utility of the naturalness, individuality and stimulation (or more memorably, SIN) conceptual model as a vehicle to organise and study the full range of sensory impacts experienced by an individual occupying a given space. In this particular case the naturalness design principle accounts for around 50% of the impact on learning, with the other two accounting for roughly a quarter each. Within this structure, seven key design parameters have been identified that together explain 16% of the variation in pupils' academic progress achieved. These are Light, Temperature, Air Quality, Ownership, Flexibility, Complexity and Colour. The muted impact of the whole-building level of analysis provides some support for the importance of "inside-out design".The identification of the impact of the built environment factors on learning progress is a major new finding for schools' research, but also suggests that the scale of the impact of building design on human performance and wellbeing in general, can be isolated and that it is non-trivial. It is argued that it makes sense to capitalise on this promising progress and to further develop these concepts and techniques.
Development in the rapidly growing urban areas can influence local climate. This micro-climate change may affect the surrounding environment, including schools. However, the study of comfort in teaching and learning environment is very limited, especially for schools. Thermal comfort is defined as "that condition of mind, which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment" (ISO Standard 7730 in 1994). Thermal comfort is affected by heat, convection heat, radiation and absorption of heat loss (evaporative heat loss) and retained the heat produced by the human metabolism can be removed. This will maintain thermal equilibrium with the environment. Any gains or losses outside this range, the heat will cause discomfort. Many studies conducted shows thermal comfort can influence occupants in it. Several studies have shown lately that the international comfort standards for buildings and the related predictions models report a warmer sensation than the occupants report in the case of naturally ventilated buildings in warm climates. This paper exposes some aspects of the debate in the field of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings located in warm and humid climates. This paper reports on the findings of a preliminary survey conducted to identify and investigate the students' perceptions towards classroom thermal comfort and the schools' surrounding using The Teaching and Learning Classroom Thermal Comfort Inventory (TLTCI) instrument. The results show that the surveyed students have high level of awareness regarding the climate change and also they find that their teaching and learning classroom thermal comfort is at a comfortable level. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu
Microclimatic conditions were recorded in an Italian school and Fanger's indexes PMV and PPD were calculated under different conditions. Students' sensations were investigated four times by means of two surveys, one related to actual microclimatic conditions and one on overall satisfaction, interaction occupant-building and reactions to discomfort. Pupils' classroom position was considered to look for possible influence on thermal comfort: a difference emerged from PMV and the survey, but the results obtained from the two approaches differ for both the entity of discomfort and its distribution within each classroom. Innovative multivariate nonparametric statistical techniques were applied to compare and rank the classrooms in accordance with students' subjective perceptions; a global ranking has been also calculated, considering thermal and visual comfort and air quality. Comparing pupil-sensation-based ranking with environmental parameters no clear correspondence was found, except for mid-season, where PMV, CO2 concentration and desk illuminance were similar in all the classrooms.
Working or studying in a comfortable environment enhances not only well being, but also satisfaction and therefore productivity and learning. This research collects some pictures of indoor environmental conditions taken in seven primary schools near Venice (Italy, North-East). Spot measurements were recorded in 28 non air-conditioned classrooms, in springtime, while 614 children (age 9–11) completed a questionnaire about the evaluation of indoor environmental conditions and the related psychological impact, their behaviour towards discomfort and if their level of interaction with the environment (opening a window, switching off a light etc.). Nonparametric statistical tests were carried out to find significant differences between schools and between girls and boys in the same school and to see if gender might influence perception. Moreover, physical measurements were compared to the answers given to the questionnaire to find a relationship between them. Finally, children's reactions towards discomfort were evaluated to understand if pupils behave like “passive users” as frequently occurs with adults. Monitoring revealed very high CO2 concentration levels, which confirm insufficient air exchange by means of open windows, occasional insufficient lighting levels over the desks and, in general, nonuniform illuminance-distribution, probably due to improper solar shading use or even inappropriate shades. Pupils complained mostly about thermal conditions in warm seasons, poor indoor air quality and noise. Classroom conditions depended strongly on teachers' preferences; therefore a building management system would be advisable to provide good indoor environmental quality, which cannot be otherwise guaranteed.
This paper evaluates occupants' subjective response to controlled architectural interventions in listed historic buildings, as part of a comprehensive plan to restore, rehabilitate and re-use the edifice. The overall strategy was to monitor a series of historic buildings, which typically represent the same period, namely 16th century architecture, depicting the Baroque period in Malta's World Heritage Capital, Valletta. Such buildings often had discrete traditional physical features, such as ventilation stacks through their thick massive walls and an open courtyard, generating the typical introvert planning. These assisted the acclimatisation of their indoor spaces. Interventions were limited to exposing their thermal mass and re-activating the original features. The buildings were partially assessed for their thermal performance through a post-occupancy survey (POS), based on subjective evidence. Questionnaires and structured interviews were conducted with office staff, two years after entering the commissioned refurbished buildings. Results indicated that the revival of modest passive design solutions was effective in attaining comfort levels today, thus reducing the dependence on energy guzzling modern environmental control systems. This suggests that such feature- revealing interventions can be easily adapted to other similar historic buildings offered for refurbishment, thus achieving energy efficiency all round, also reducing their overall carbon footprint.
Data on metabolic rates (n = 81) and clothing insulation (n = 96) of school children and adolescents (A, primary school: age 9-10; B, primary school: age 10-11 year; C, junior vocational (technical) education: age 13-16 (lower level); D, same as C but at advanced level; and E, senior vocational (technical) education, advanced level: age 16-18) were collected (Diaferometer, Oxylog, Heart Rate derivation) during theory-, practical- and physical education- lessons. Clothing insulation was calculated from clothing weight, covered body surface area, and the number of clothing layers worn. Clothing insulation was found to be similar to that expected for adults in the same (winter) season, with minimal variation with age or school type (0.9 to 1.0 clo; 1.38 clo where coverall was worn), but more variation within groups (coefficient of variation 6-12%). Metabolic rate values (W.m(-2)) were lower than expected from adult data for similar activities, but are supported by other child data. The results of this study can be used to establish design criteria for school climate control systems or as general data on energy expenditure for children and adolescents. The results emphasize the need for specific child data and show the limited value of size-corrected adult data for use in children.
Abstract In recent years, energy efficiency and thermal comfort in historic buildings have become high-interest topics among scholars. Research has demonstrated that retrofitting buildings to current energy efficiency and thermal comfort standards is essential for improving sustainability and energy performance and for maintaining built heritage of historic structures. This study is an extensive overview of the literature surrounding this topic. This paper summarizes the different methods and techniques that have been used around the world to achieve performance refurbishments. Articles are organized based on the different building types used as case studies (residential, religious, academic and palace, museums, libraries and theaters, urban areas, and others). The results reveal that residential, religious and museum building types, especially from the last two centuries, have been most often used as case studies. Moreover, Europe, particularly Italy, is leading the research. The aim of this note is to demonstrate the feasibility of maintaining built heritage values of historic buildings while achieving significant improvements in their energy efficiency and thermal comfort.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present an IDEF 0 framework model for the post-occupancy evaluation of school facilities, and the findings of a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the framework.
Design/methodology/approach
– The framework model consists of five sequential processes, namely: first, identify the performance requirements of school facilities; second, conduct a walk-through evaluation and a focussed group discussion; third, develop and administer a user satisfaction survey; fourth, analyze the collected data and report the findings; and fifth, develop a plan of remedial actions.
Findings
– The case study demonstrates the applicability of the framework through presenting the findings of an indicative evaluation of the major technical and functional elements of performance carried out on a school building in city of Khobar, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The school users were satisfied with the qualities of the thermal comfort, visual comfort, fire protection, functional spaces in the school and the interior and exterior appearance of the school. The case study also resulted in developing a plan of remedial actions to improve the performance of the school.
Practical implications
– The framework model provides a descriptive and systematic approach for evaluating the technical and functional performance of existing school facilities. The approach followed in collecting the data, designing the user satisfaction survey, analyzing and reporting the findings can be applied to any school building, upon the needed customization, irrespective of location.
Originality/value
– The paper is particularly beneficial for design professionals, school administrators and facilities managers responsible for the design and operation of school facilities.
The paper proposes a method for reliable energy diagnoses, aimed at integrated design of energy refurbishment of existing buildings, with reference to historical architectures. The approach is structured according to three main phases: (a) the building performance assessment, by combining in situ monitoring and documental information; (b) the numerical studies by hourly energy simulations with a deepening about the calibration methodology; (c) the investigation of potential energy savings, environmental benefits and economical profitability of selected energy efficiency measures.
Recent thermal comfort research in a light-weight junior school building showed that children were more sensitive to higher temperatures than adults and subsequently that current thermal comfort standards were not appropriate for the assessment of their thermal environment. This paper presents a comparison of these survey results to those from a survey conducted in a medium-weight school building, in order to evaluate the role of the construction type on the results. Both surveys followed the same methodology, including thermal comfort questionnaires and measurements of indoor environmental variables. A total of 2990 responses were gathered. The buildings had an average difference in air temperature of 2.7 °C during occupied hours in the period of investigation (June and July 2012), with the medium-weight building being cooler than the light-weight building. However, the different construction type and the cooler overall thermal environment in the medium-weight school building had little impact on the pupils' overall thermal sensitivity. The comparison showed a general agreement on the pupils' warm thermal sensation trends, interpersonal variation and undeveloped adaptive behaviour. The results further support the finding that current thermal comfort criteria lead to an underestimation of pupils' thermal sensation during summer.
A field study is conducted in a secondary school building in Cyprus, to assess the indoor thermal conditions during the students’ lesson hours. The survey is carried out in Neapolis Gymnasium which is a typical Cypriot school located in the coastal city of Limassol. Requirements for comfort are critical especially to pupils’ performance and welfare.
Classrooms, laboratories and administrative offices are chosen for investigation of indoor and outdoor thermal conditions. Air temperature (AT) and relative humidity (RH) are monitored using indoor and outdoor sensors simultaneously throughout the four seasons of the year. Data analysis compares the results with international standards, ASHRAE Standard 55, ISO Standard 7730 etc.
Thermal comfort variables are measured at the same time when students and teachers completed a questionnaire which focuses on their perception of the indoor climate. Fanger's comfort indicators are calculated (PMV predicted mean vote and PPD predicted percentage of dissatisfied people) and the actual people clothing and metabolic rate are estimated in order to conclude to the prevailing indoor thermal conditions of the school.
Tulou buildings (World Heritage Site) are a unique kind of rural buildings with rammed earth and in a wooden framework, distributed across the southeastern China. In this study, a field investigation of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in these traditional rural buildings was conducted and compared with that in normal rural buildings in the region. The IEQ concerned include indoor thermal, luminous, acoustic environment and indoor air quality. Both field measurements of key parameters and residents’ subjective surveys were conducted in this investigation. Results show that the residents in Tulou buildings had better satisfaction of indoor thermal environment and overall indoor environmental quality than normal rural residents did, while they had a poorer satisfaction of indoor acoustic environment mainly due to larger tourist flow. Regarding the luminous environment and indoor air quality, the sensations for the residents in Tulou and normal rural buildings were of no obvious distinction. In general, the results from on-site measurement were in agreement with those obtained by results from residents’ subjective survey. Additionally, the possible reasons for the differences in IEQ between Tulou buildings and normal rural buildings were discussed.
World Heritage Site – Nanjing Tulou buildings, which were built of rammed earth and in a wooden framework, are large-scale civilian residential buildings distributed across the southeastern China. The information of energy consumption as well as its characteristics in Tulou buildings is however unavailable in the literature. In this study, a survey of energy consumption and indoor environmental quality in Nanjing Tulou buildings was conducted. Based on the data obtained by the survey and an energy consumption model, the characteristics of energy consumption, including energy consumption per household breakdown based on energy sources and usage, seasonal variation of energy consumption, and energy consumption distribution in Nanjing Tulou buildings were investigated by comparing the Tulou buildings with other normal rural buildings in that region. The results show that the total primary energy consumption per household in Nanjing Tulou buildings was 2.43 × 104 MJ/year, which was lower than that in normal rural buildings in the region (3.37 × 104 MJ/year). Furthermore, residents in Nanjing Tulou buildings responded with better thermal comfort than that in normal rural buildings. The reasons for the characteristics of energy consumption in Tulou buildings, such as influence of cooling and heating requirements and human behavior, were analyzed. The potential energy savings as well as the implications for future low-energy rural housing construction were discussed.
The assessment of moderate thermal environments provided with HVAC system is usually carried out by means of the PMV and the PPD indices. The reliability of the PMV to predict the thermal sensation in non-air conditioned environments has been criticized in the past. Particularly, Fanger himself, realizing the difference in the expectations between people not used to occupy conditioned environments and people used to, proposed to widen the use of PMV even in non-air conditioned environments by means of an expectancy factor. This factor, multiplied by the PMV value, returns a corrected vote that keeps into account the difference in expectancy of occupants of non-air conditioned environments.In this paper an expectancy factor value for the Mediterranean climate is proposed. This value has been obtained by carrying out a combined subjective and objective investigation on about 200 Italian classrooms and more than 4000 students both in winter and in summer season. All investigated school buildings were non-air conditioned and ventilated by operable windows. The subjective investigation has been carried out by means of a special questionnaire also containing a direct question on the acceptability to verify the agreement between the percentages of dissatisfied consistent with the votes assigned to the thermal environment and the acceptability. Obtained results seem to show similar distributions with only a slight overestimation (15% about) of the percentage of dissatisfied under neutrality conditions.
This paper presents the results of the ASHRAE methodology for thermal comfort study applied in Taiwan. Field experiments conducted in 10 naturally ventilated and 26 air-conditioned campus classrooms used survey questionnaires and physical measurements to collect data. A total of 944 individuals in seven universities completed 1294 questionnaires. The chi-square tests were applied to find the significant aspects that affect students’ thermal sensations. The results show that air temperature, air movement and mean radiant temperature have significant influence, but humidity has no statistical significance. By using probit regressive analyses, the thermal neutrality and thermal preference of students occurred at 26.3°C ET* and 24.7°C ET*, respectively. Responses from those students suggest a wider acceptable temperature range for occupants in Taiwan. The margins of the acceptable zones obtained from direct and indirect acceptability assessing methods are 21.1–29.8°C ET* and 24.2–29.3°C ET*, respectively. When compared with similar studies elsewhere, this finding supports the sentiments on climatic adaptation.
This work shows some of the results of a field study about environmental comfort investigations in classrooms. In this project thermal, acoustic, visual and air quality aspects were analysed in a number of classrooms—13 classrooms at four different high schools of the Provincia di Torino and four typical medium-sized university classrooms of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. The investigations were carried out during the heating period. Both field measurements and subjective surveys were performed at the same time during the regular lesson periods.This paper focuses on thermal comfort, which may have a significant effect on the students’ performance, in terms of attention, comprehension and learning levels.The measurement campaign consisted in measuring the thermal environment parameters—air temperature, mean radiant temperatures, air relative humidity and air velocity. Through these data, the thermal comfort Fanger's indices (predicted mean vote (PMV), and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD)people) were calculated, the actual people clothing and metabolic rate being known.The subjective survey involved questions on the thermal environmental perception. They basically investigated the thermal environment acceptability and preference. Moreover, a judgement based on the typical seven point thermal sensation scale (Fanger 7-points scale) was also asked. Through the elaboration of the questionnaire data, the actual percentage of dissatisfied (PD) people of the felt thermal environment was evaluated.The judgements about the thermal environment were compared with the results of the field measurements. Moreover, the subjective mean votes were compared with the thermal environment perceptions in terms of acceptability and preference.
Building envelope design has an almost unrivalled impact on indoor thermal conditions in naturally ventilated spaces. This study investigated the effects of building envelope energy regulations on thermal comfort level in naturally ventilated classrooms in primary and secondary schools in Taiwan. In the study, a long-term survey was conducted to investigate the thermal perception of children and teenagers together with a year-round monitoring of indoor climatic conditions in classrooms of different thermal characteristics. Based on the results of field comfort surveys an adaptive comfort model for children and teenagers was developed and compared to ASHRAE's model for characterizing the requirements of thermal comfort among the students using naturally ventilated classrooms. An analysis on frequency and level of thermal discomfort in the cool and warm periods was conducted using the adaptive comfort model established for the students to develop criteria applicable in thermal discomfort assessment. The building energy regulation was found to have a significant impact on the level of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated classrooms.
Current thermal comfort models are based on studies with adult subjects, mainly in offices. There is no assurance however that these models apply to children. This paper presents findings from thermal comfort surveys and measurements of indoor environmental variables in naturally ventilated classrooms in Hampshire, England. School children aged 7–11 were surveyed regarding their thermal sensation and preference in repeated survey runs outside the heating season, gathering about 1300 responses in total. The results were compared to predictions achieved with the two common approaches used in existing comfort standards, the heat balance and the adaptive comfort model. The heat balance model indices PMV (predicted mean vote) and PPD (predicted percentage of dissatisfied) were calculated for the survey periods, using the measured physical parameters, estimated values for clothing insulation and four different approaches for determining the metabolic rate. The applicability of the adaptive comfort model was investigated by comparing the comfort temperature equation derived from the survey with the equation used in the European Standard EN 15251. The results suggest that children are more sensitive to higher temperatures than adults with the comfort temperatures being about 4 °C and 2 °C lower than the PMV and the EN 15251 adaptive comfort model predictions respectively.
In this research the thermal comfort and thermal comfort parameters for children in primary school classrooms has been investigated. Actual thermal sensation and clothing insulation of children (age 9–11) in non-air-conditioned classrooms in three different schools in the Netherlands have been obtained. Results are available for a total of 24 days, covering winter, spring and summer conditions (year 2010). Questionnaires have been applied to obtain the actual thermal sensation and clothing insulation in the morning and afternoon of regular school days. In this period physical parameters (temperature, relative humidity, etc.) were recorded as well in order to derive the PMV.The results show that children adapt clothing during the year from mean values around 0.9 clo in winter to 0.3 clo in summer, with the largest changes occurring in the mid-season. There is a small difference in clothing adaptation between male and female children, with the females showing more adaptation.Comparison of the actual mean vote with the calculated PMV, based on the measured data, indicates a clear difference. The conclusion is that the PMV model does not predict the thermal sensation of these children accurately; it underestimates the mean thermal sensation up to 1.5 scale point.When the actual thermal sensation votes are compared to comfort predictions based on adaptive temperature limits it shows that children prefer lower temperatures than predicted by these methods.Highlights► Thermal sensation and comfort was assessed in 3 Dutch non-air-conditioned classrooms. ► Clothing adaptation during the year was of specific interest. ► PMV from measurements show clear difference with actual mean votes of children. ► Children prefer lower temperatures than predicted by adaptive temperature limits.
This paper presents an assessment of occupants’ opinion of the internal environment of buildings, based upon their responses to questions relating to a range of discrete factors. The survey considers many aspects of the internal environment and seeks to gain occupants responses to each of these in terms of “User Satisfaction” and “Degree of Importance”. The questionnaire utilised a seven-point bi-polar scale to score these responses against each of the factors. In addition, the questionnaire elicits a ‘fingerprint’ that combines up to 22 factors relating to satisfaction with the building. The study documents and considers aspects of the building environment for which the users noted that they were least satisfied as well as those that are considered by the occupants as being of most importance. It is critical that sustainable development results not just in resource conservation, but also in increasing productivity and occupant well-being within buildings. This study hopes to provide insight for the design community on the perceptions of occupants in relation to building performance based on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) criteria. It also seeks to add to the growing body of research on sustainable design and occupants’ perception of IEQ.
School buildings constitute a major part of the non-residential building stock, though due to their operational characteristics, they represent a low percentage of the overall energy balance of the building sector. Although health and productivity of pupils and teachers is strongly affected by the indoor environmental quality of their school, poor indoor air quality has been reported in published literature, even so for recently constructed school buildings. The same applies for the energy consumption, with large amounts of energy being wasted because no energy saving measures are applied for the operation of schools. This paper presents the outcome of a study on the energy performance of Hellenic school buildings. The general features of the contemporary building stock are presented along with the results from an energy survey in 135 Hellenic schools. The derived energy consumption benchmarks are compared with published literature. Finally, the energy performance and indoor environmental quality of a representative sample of schools in metropolitan Athens are assessed in a holistic approach to the “energy efficiency – thermal comfort – indoor air quality” dilemma. The IEQ assessment was based on an objective evaluation by monitoring crucial indoor conditions and a subjective occupant evaluation using standardized questionnaires. The potential of several energy conservation measures is evaluated in terms of energy savings and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions along with the related payback periods.
Educational buildings such as kindergartens, schools and universities display many similar design, operation and maintenance features in most countries. The two most noteworthy similarities amongst these building types are the high energy consumption and the necessity for retrofitting many buildings within this sector. However, studies have shown that during retrofit, energy saving measures are only rarely applied, because the decision-makers lack knowledge of investments and the efficiency of potential energy saving measures. The main goal of the International Energy Agency ECBCS Annex 36 is to provide the educational building decision-makers with sufficient data, information and tools to improve their learning and teaching environments by improving the energy efficiency of their buildings.
Schools are the most suitable type of building for the application of energy efficiency and good indoor air quality measures. This is justified by the fact that such measures can promote sustainability to the future citizens, and even more, ensure a comfortable and healthy environment for educational purposes. Unfortunately, in practice school buildings face the same, or even more intense, energy performance and indoor air quality problems as any other building. The purpose of this study is to investigate the energy efficiency, thermal environment and indoor air quality in public nursery and elementary school buildings in the city of Kozani, located at the cold climatic zone of Greece. The survey, conducted both by in-field measurements and by questionnaires, reveals the main parameters affecting the overall performance of the investigated buildings. The problematic building envelope, the improper control of heating and lighting systems, the absence of proper legislative measures and, above all, the lack of interest concerning the efficiency of such buildings are the main factors in the reported efficiency.
This paper is a part of an ongoing research project into the environmental appraisal of historic buildings in Scotland. It used the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) building as its research vehicle where key variables related to sound, light and heat were measured and user attitudes toward them and the building in general were surveyed and the results were statistically analysed. Preliminary recordings of sound level showed an evidence of noise nuisance in one of the GSA offices. This was largely due to the nature of sound rather than its level. This has been confirmed by user returns from the questionnaire. Also, Leq levels were high in the library. Daylight levels in one of the north-facing studios were higher than required in summer and lower than the recommended standards in winter. Surprisingly, no evidence, from the questionnaire returns, was found to suggest visual and/or thermal discomfort in the studios from the very large single glazed windows. Almost all occupants attached great importance to the issue of living inside a historic building. However, this was not the preferred option when it was examined in relation to other building use issues.
This paper reviews the results from a field survey of thermal comfort within two types of buildings; old (traditional) and new (contemporary), in Ghadames oasis in Libya. The survey was undertaken in the summer seasons 1997 and 1998, which were typical of the hot–dry climate of North Africa. It shows how the 237 residents responded to the environmental conditions. Question