Encouraging natural ventilation to improve indoor environmental conditions at schools. Case studies in the north of Spain before and during COVID

Monge-Barrio, Aurora; Bes–Rastrollo, Maira; Dorregaray-Oyaregui, Sara; González-Martínez, Purificación; Martín‐Calvo, Nerea; López-Hernández, Dolores; Arriazu-Ramos, Ainhoa; Gutiérrez, Ana Sánchez-Ostiz

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111567

Cited by 47 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Only 18% of the evaluated classrooms were in this range, which was reflected in the high percentage of dissatisfied students. Our findings are similar to those reported by Monge-Barrio et al [41], who conducted a study to evaluate the use of natural ventilation to improve IAQ in educational buildings in northern Spain. They found that, although natural ventilation helped to improve IAQ (with lower CO 2 concentrations), this resulted in lower temperatures inside the classroom, especially on the coldest days of the winter season.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Thermal Perception in Naturally Ventilated University Buildings in Spain during the Cold Season

et al. 2022

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The indoor thermal environment has become a critical factor, due to its impact on the energy efficiency of a building and the health and performance of its occupants. It is particularly important for educational buildings, where students and teachers are exposed to these thermal conditions. This study assessed the impact of natural ventilation efficiency and university students’ thermal perception during the cold season. A field monitoring campaign and a questionnaire survey were conducted. A total of 989 students participated in this study. The results show that, although the CO2 concentration in 90% of the evaluated classrooms was below the European recommended value (i.e., 800 ppm), only 18% of the classrooms were within the thermal comfort zone defined by national regulations. These thermal conditions caused 55% of the students surveyed to report that they were dissatisfied, and that this environment interfered with their academic performance. Significant differences were found between thermal sensation votes from female and male students (p < 0.001). The obtained neutral temperature was one degree higher for female students than for males. Our results suggest that ventilation protocols need to be modified by adjusting the window opening strategy, and these findings should be used as guidelines during their redesign.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Thermal Perception in Naturally Ventilated University Buildings in Spain during the Cold Season

et al. 2022

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“…Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve ventilation control systems to reduce the risk of infection. Studies ( Monge-Barrio et al, 2022 ) encouraged using natural ventilation to improve indoor environmental quality. Due to the lack of effective ventilation monitoring and control, the ventilation control in places with high occupant metabolic rates, often cannot satisfy the requirement of infection prevention during COVID-19 outbreak.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolism-based ventilation monitoring and control method for COVID-19 risk mitigation in gymnasiums and alike places

Wang

Huang

et al. 2022

Sustainable Cities and Society

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Gymnasiums, fitness rooms and alike places offer exercise services to citizens, which play positive roles in promoting health and enhancing human immunity. Due to the high metabolic rates during exercises, supplying sufficient ventilation in these places is essential and extremely important especially given the risk of infectious respiratory diseases like COVID-19. Traditional ventilation control methods rely on a single CO 2 sensor (often placed at return air duct), which is often difficult to reflect the human metabolic rates accurately, and thus can hardly control the infection risk instantly. Thus, to ensure a safe and healthy environment in places with high metabolism, a real-time metabolism-based ventilation control method is proposed. A computer vision algorithm is developed to monitor human activities (regarding human motion amplitude and speed) and an artificial neural network is established for metabolic prediction. Case studies show that the proposed metabolism-based ventilation control method can reduce the infection probability down to 4.3-6.3% while saving 13% of energy in comparison with the strategy of fixed-fresh-air ventilation. In the development of healthy and sustainable society, gymnasiums and alike exercise places are essential and the proposed ventilation control method is a promising solution to decrease the risk of COVID-19 while preserving features of energy saving and carbon emission reduction.

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“…In other relevant studies, Janoszek et al [2] applied CFD to the ventilation of a selected section of an underground excavation (the ventilation network of the Experimental Mine Barbara of the Central Mining Institute). Monge-Barrio et al [25] studied natural ventilation to enhance indoor environmental conditions at schools in the north of Spain before and during COVID-19. They did surveys in nine schools, including detailed monitoring of one building during both 'heating seasons' regarding the COVID transmission (March 2020, January 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Ventilation and Aerosol Particles Dispersion Indoors

Dbouk

Drikakis

2022

Energies

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Aerosol pollutant particles indoors significantly affect public health. The conventional wisdom is that natural ventilation will alleviate the dispersion of airborne or aerosol particles. However, we show that the problem is far more complex and that natural ventilation should be applied under specific conditions to be effective. We performed several simulations of a simplified (and easily reproducible) room with a window opening and aerosol particles stratified layers. Opening a window can scatter particles present in stratified layers indoors and potentially contribute to the degradation of indoor air quality for a significant period of time. Moreover, we show that thermal instabilities arising from the temperature gradients due to temperature differences between the indoor and outdoor environment spread the particles randomly indoors, adversely affecting air quality and architectural design. Recommendations for more efficient natural ventilation minimizing aerosol pollutant particles dispersed indoors are provided.

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Encouraging natural ventilation to improve indoor environmental conditions at schools. Case studies in the north of Spain before and during COVID

Cited by 47 publications

References 35 publications

Thermal Perception in Naturally Ventilated University Buildings in Spain during the Cold Season

Thermal Perception in Naturally Ventilated University Buildings in Spain during the Cold Season

Metabolism-based ventilation monitoring and control method for COVID-19 risk mitigation in gymnasiums and alike places

Natural Ventilation and Aerosol Particles Dispersion Indoors

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