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Natural ventilation and indoor air quality in educational buildings: experimental assessment and improvement strategies

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Abstract

Indoor environmental conditions in classrooms, in particular temperature and indoor air quality, influence students’ health, attitude and performance. In recent years, several studies regarding indoor environmental quality of classrooms were published and natural ventilation proved to have great potential, particularly in southern European climate. This research aimed to evaluate indoor environmental conditions in eight schools and to assess their improvement potential by simple natural ventilation strategies. Temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentration were measured in 32 classrooms. Ventilation performance of the classrooms was characterized using two techniques, first by fan pressurization measurements of the envelope airtightness and later by tracer gas measurements of the air change rate assuming different envelope conditions. A total of 110 tracer gas measurements were made and the results validated ventilation protocols that were tested afterward. The results of the ventilation protocol implementation were encouraging and, overall, a decrease on the CO2 concentration was observed without modifying the comfort conditions. Nevertheless, additional measurements must be performed for winter conditions.

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Abbreviations

H :

Height of a window [cm]

max:

Maximum

min:

Minimum

n :

Air flow exponent [−]

n 50 :

Air change rate at 50 Pa [h−1]

p :

Pressure [Pa]

r :

Correlation [%]

w :

Width of a window [cm]

wv:

Wind velocity [m/s]

A :

Area [m2]

ACH:

Air change rate [h−1]

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

HVAC:

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning

IAQ:

Indoor air quality

IEQ:

Indoor environmental quality

MV:

Mechanical ventilation

N :

Sample size

NV:

Natural ventilation

NVP:

No ventilation protocol

PMV:

Predicted mean vote

RH:

Relative humidity [%]

T :

Temperature [°C]

VP:

Ventilation protocol

Δ :

Difference

Σ :

Standard deviation

μ :

Mean

av:

Average

ext:

Exterior

int:

Interior

occ:

Period of occupation

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Author contributions

All authors contributed equally in the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Technology and Management, Department of Civil Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Campus Politécnico de Repeses, 3504-510, Viseu, Portugal

    Ricardo M. S. F. Almeida & Manuel Pinto

  2. CONSTRUCT-LFC, Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Ricardo M. S. F. Almeida

  3. School of Technology and Management, Centro de Estudos em Educação, Tecnologias e Saúde - CI&DETS, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, 3504-510, Viseu, Portugal

    Paulo G. Pinho & Luís T. de Lemos

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  1. Ricardo M. S. F. Almeida
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  2. Manuel Pinto
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Correspondence to Ricardo M. S. F. Almeida.

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Almeida, R.M.S.F., Pinto, M., Pinho, P.G. et al. Natural ventilation and indoor air quality in educational buildings: experimental assessment and improvement strategies. Energy Efficiency 10, 839–854 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-016-9485-0

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