Analysing learning environments is important because classrooms can affect students’ well-being and learning performance. In this paper, a field study was conducted based on a mixed method for a better understanding of indoor environmental conditions in six buildings of Balikesir University in Turkey. The perceptions of students were combined with measurements and surveys. The environmental parameters such as indoor and outdoor air temperature, indoor black globe temperature, indoor and outdoor relative humidity, indoor carbon dioxide concentration and air velocity were measured. A total of 1782 responses from students were also obtained. The recorded values of mean indoor air temperature, relative humidity, black globe temperature and air velocity were 23·4°C, 39·8%, 22·9°C and 0·09 m/s, respectively. Carbon dioxide concentrations usually exceeded the threshold of 1000 ppm. Over 55% of students said they found indoor conditions thermally acceptable in all classrooms during the field study. The mean neutral temperatures, as predicted by actual and predicted mean values, were 21·7 and 23·1°C. Indoor measured temperatures were mostly found to be higher than neutral temperatures. The findings can be used for the design and evaluation of indoor conditions and heating systems in university buildings.
Due to the large number of buildings, energy consumption in the university campuses of Turkey may tend to increase over time. In this context, their potential energy savings need to be explored. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate energy savings in university campuses by applying different energy-efficient measures with simulation-based analysis. To do that, four buildings from the Balıkesir University campus were the focus of the present study. The energy billing data were used to calibrate and adjust the simulation models produced from the DesignBuilder software. The results showed that an energy reduction of over 60% in the examined buildings is possible with proper energy-efficient solutions, which is considered very effective. This means that the findings demonstrate a high potential for campus building retrofitting with passive, active and combined strategies. The energy-saving potentials calculated for each building can guide university authorities to determine feasible energy-saving techniques for buildings with large energy conservation potential and forecast future retrofitting planning development in campuses.
Highlights• This paper focuses on energy consumption per unit area of the surveyed buildings.• There is significant difference in energy consumption of buildings.• Five buildings are responsible from 70% of total energy consumption of university campus.
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