Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in Naturally-ventilated Primary Schools in the UK: Occupant-Related Factors

Sepideh Sadat Korsavi; Azadeh Montazami; Dejan Mumovic

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106992

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in Naturally-ventilated Primary Schools in the UK: Occupant-Related Factors

Sepideh Sadat Korsavi, Azadeh Montazami, Dejan Mumovic

School of Art and Design

University College London

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

66 Citations (Scopus)

177 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is affected by Context, Occupant and Building (COB) related factors. This paper evaluates IAQ as a function of occupant-related factors including occupants' Adaptive Behaviours (ABs), occupancy patterns, occupant's CO ₂ generation rates and occupancy density. This study observed occupant-related factors of 805 children in 29 naturally-ventilated (NV) classrooms in UK primary schools during Non-Heating and Heating seasons. Occupant-related factors affecting IAQ include occupants' adaptive behaviours, occupancy patterns, occupants' CO ₂ generation rate and occupancy densities. Results of this study suggest that a classroom with high potentials for natural ventilation does not necessarily provide adequate IAQ, however, occupants’ good practice of ABs is also required. Average occupancy densities to have CO ₂ levels of 1000 ± 50 ppm are suggested to be 2.3 ± 0.05m ²/p and 7.6 ± 0.25 m ³/p. These values correspond to the classroom area of 62.1 ± 1.35 m ² and volume of 205.2 ± 6.75 m ³ with a height of 3.3 m. Mean CO ₂ level is maintained below 900 ppm when all occupant-related factors are in the favour of IAQ, however, it exceeds 1300 ppm when none of the occupant-related factors are in favour of IAQ. It is shown that 17% of CO ₂ variations are explained by open area (m ²), 14% by occupants' generation rates (cm ³/s) and 11% by occupancy density (m ³/p). IAQ is mostly affected by occupants’ adaptive behaviours than other occupant-related factors in naturally-ventilated classrooms.

Original language	English
Article number	106992
Journal	Building and Environment
Volume	180
Early online date	31 May 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106992
Publication status	Published - Aug 2020

Bibliographical note

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Building and Environment. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Building and Environment, 180, (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106992

© 2020 Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Keywords

Indoor air quality (IAQ)
CO2 levels
levels
Occupants
Adaptive behaviours
Occupancy density (OD)
Primary schools
CO levels

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development
Environmental Engineering
Building and Construction
Civil and Structural Engineering

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10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106992

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Cite this

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title = "Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in Naturally-ventilated Primary Schools in the UK: Occupant-Related Factors",

abstract = "Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is affected by Context, Occupant and Building (COB) related factors. This paper evaluates IAQ as a function of occupant-related factors including occupants' Adaptive Behaviours (ABs), occupancy patterns, occupant's CO 2 generation rates and occupancy density. This study observed occupant-related factors of 805 children in 29 naturally-ventilated (NV) classrooms in UK primary schools during Non-Heating and Heating seasons. Occupant-related factors affecting IAQ include occupants' adaptive behaviours, occupancy patterns, occupants' CO 2 generation rate and occupancy densities. Results of this study suggest that a classroom with high potentials for natural ventilation does not necessarily provide adequate IAQ, however, occupants{\textquoteright} good practice of ABs is also required. Average occupancy densities to have CO 2 levels of 1000 ± 50 ppm are suggested to be 2.3 ± 0.05m 2/p and 7.6 ± 0.25 m 3/p. These values correspond to the classroom area of 62.1 ± 1.35 m 2 and volume of 205.2 ± 6.75 m 3 with a height of 3.3 m. Mean CO 2 level is maintained below 900 ppm when all occupant-related factors are in the favour of IAQ, however, it exceeds 1300 ppm when none of the occupant-related factors are in favour of IAQ. It is shown that 17% of CO 2 variations are explained by open area (m 2), 14% by occupants' generation rates (cm 3/s) and 11% by occupancy density (m 3/p). IAQ is mostly affected by occupants{\textquoteright} adaptive behaviours than other occupant-related factors in naturally-ventilated classrooms. ",

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note = "NOTICE: this is the author{\textquoteright}s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Building and Environment. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Building and Environment, 180, (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106992 {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ",

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Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in Naturally-ventilated Primary Schools in the UK: Occupant-Related Factors

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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