Thermal comfort in university classrooms: An experimental study in the tropics

Guevara, Gabriel; Soriano, Guillermo; Miño-Rodríguez, Isabel

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.107430

Cited by 59 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…For instance, it is essential to change the temperature set-point of the air-conditioners in Buildings 1 and 4, since these presented higher cooling EUI values (see Table 7). Studies on this are available and should be taken into account to avoid compromising the thermal comfort of users when applying this measure [45]. Similarly, more efforts should be devoted to improving the occupants' behavior in buildings with larger floor areas (Buildings 3 and 4) by implementing energy policies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Performance and Benchmarking for University Classrooms in Hot and Humid Climates

2021

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In this paper, the energy performance of a university campus in a tropical climate is assessed, and four mixed classroom buildings are compared using benchmarking methods based on simple normalization: the classic Energy Use Intensity (EUI), end-used based EUI, and people-based EUI. To estimate the energy consumption of the case studies, building energy simulations were carried out in EnergyPlus using custom inputs. The analysis found that buildings with more classroom spaces presented higher energy consumption for cooling and lighting than others. In comparison, buildings with a greater percentage of laboratories and offices exhibited higher energy consumption for plug loads. Nevertheless, differences were identified when using the people-based EUI since buildings with larger floor areas showed the highest values, highlighting the impact of occupant behavior on energy consumption. Given the fact that little is known about a benchmark range for university campuses and academic buildings in hot and humid climates, this paper also provides a comparison against the EUIs reported in the literature for both cases. In this sense, the identified range for campuses was 49–367 kWh/m2/year, while for academic buildings, the range was 47–628 kWh/m2/year. Overall, the findings of this study could contribute to identifying better-targeted energy efficiency strategies for the studied buildings in the future by assessing their performance under different indicators and drawing a benchmark to compare similar buildings in hot and humid climates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Performance and Benchmarking for University Classrooms in Hot and Humid Climates

2021

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“…An experimental study conducted by Balbis-Morejon et al [9] at a university in a tropical climate concerned the perception of thermal comfort by selected 584 students. It was shown on the basis of the analyzed data that for 90 % of people the acceptable temperature ranged from 23 C. An analysis of the three cities of Quito, Guayaquil and Tena in Ecuador was carried out by Guevara et al [11]. The study covered these areas due to the tropical nature of this region, and especially for the speed of weather changes that take place there.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Indoor Environment in the Intelligent Building

Dębska

2021

Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Currently, thermal comfort and indoor air quality are essential elements in designing modern and intelligent buildings or improving existing ones, so that they would provide proper indoor conditions. The article focuses on the thermal sensations of the students of Kielce University of Technology and determining whether the given parameters of the internal environment contributed to their well-being. 164 people aged 16 - 24 participated in the study, which was conducted with the use of a microclimate meter and questionnaires. It turned out that the temperature range from 19.3 °C – 27.6 °C is acceptable and comfortable for nearly 78% of people. As a result of further analysis, it turned out that the research group definitely prefers and feels better in colder temperatures.

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“…Tropical countries' weather is also close to GCC weather, which is hot-humid most of the months of the year. A study focusing on three subtropical locations in Ecuador recorded neutral temperatures for Quito (Highlands region), Guayaquil (Coastal region) and Tena (Rainforest region) as 21.8 • C, 26.3 • C and 26.9 • C, respectively, which confirms that, regardless the region, students prefer cold environment to warm environment [30].…”

Section: Influencing Factors On Thermal Comfortmentioning

confidence: 72%

Quantifying Fenestration Effect on Thermal Comfort in Naturally Ventilated Classrooms

et al. 2021

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This study seeks to evaluate thermal comfort in naturally ventilated classrooms to draw sustainable solutions that reduce the dramatic energy consumed in mechanically ventilated spaces. Passive ventilation scenarios are generated using alternations of openings on the windward and leeward sides to evaluate their effects on thermal comfort. Twenty-eight experiments were carried in Bahrain during winter inside an exposed classroom, the experiments were grouped into five scenarios namely: “single-inlet single-outlet” SISO, “single-inlet double-outlet” SIDO, “double-inlet single-outlet” DISO, “double-inlet double-outlet” DIDO and “single-side ventilation” SSV. The findings indicate that single-side ventilation did not offer comfort except at high airspeed, while comfort is attained by using cross-ventilation at ambient temperature between 21.8–26.8 °C. The temperature difference between monitored locations and the inlet is inversely proportional to the number of air changes per hour. The DISO scenario accomplishes the lowest temperature difference. Using cross-ventilation instead of single-side ventilation reduces the temperature differences between 0.5–2.5 °C and increases airspeed up to three folds. According to the measured findings, the DISO cross-ventilation scenario is a valid sustainable solution adaptable to climatic variation locally and beyond with zero-energy consumption and zero emissions.

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Thermal comfort in university classrooms: An experimental study in the tropics

Cited by 59 publications

References 34 publications

Energy Performance and Benchmarking for University Classrooms in Hot and Humid Climates

Energy Performance and Benchmarking for University Classrooms in Hot and Humid Climates

Assessment of the Indoor Environment in the Intelligent Building

Quantifying Fenestration Effect on Thermal Comfort in Naturally Ventilated Classrooms

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