Overheating in Schools: Factors Determining Children’s Perceptions of Overall Comfort Indoors

Climate change is raising the length and intensity of the warm season in the academic year, with a very significant impact on indoor classroom conditions. Increasingly frequent episodes of extreme heat are having an adverse effect on school activities, whose duration may have to be shortened or pace slackened. Fitting facilities with air conditioning does not always solve the problem and may even contribute to discomfort or worsen health conditions, often as a result of insufficient ventilation. Users have traditionally adopted measures to adapt to these situations, particularly in warm climates where mechanical refrigeration is absent or unavailable. Implementation of such measures or of natural ventilation is not always possible or their efficacy is limited in school environments, however. Such constraints, especially in a context where reasonable energy use and operating costs are a primary concern, inform the need to identify the factors that contribute to users’ perceptions of comfort. This study deploys a post-occupancy strategy combined with participatory action to empower occupants as agents actively engaging in their own comfort. It addresses user-identified classroom comfort parameters potentially applicable in the design and layout of thermally suitable spaces meriting occupant acceptance

Energy impact of the air infiltration in residential buildings in the Mediterranean area of Spain and the Canary islands

Air infiltration through the building envelope has already been proven to have a significant energy impact in dwellings. Different studies have been carried out in Europe, but there is still a lack of knowledge in this field regarding mild climates. An experimental field study has been carried out in the Mediterranean climate area of Spain and the Canary Islands in order to assess the air permeability of the building envelope and its energy impact. A wide characterization and Blower Door tests have been performed in 225 cases in Alicante, Barcelona, Málaga, Sevilla and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for this purpose. The obtained mean air permeability rate for the 225 studied cases was 6.56 m3/(h·m2). The influence of several variables on airtightness was statistically analysed, although only location, climate zone and window material were found to be significant. Air infiltration has an energy impact between 2.43 and 16.44 kWh/m2·year on the heating demand and between 0.54 and 3.06 kWh/m2·year on the cooling demand.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BIA2015-64321-R) under the research project INFILES: Repercusión energética de la permeabilidad al aire de los edificios residenciales en España: estudio y caracterización de sus infiltraciones

Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe?

International audienc

Teaching innovation and the use of social networks in architecture: Learning building services design for smart and energy efficient buildings

Today’s buildings are evolving from structures comprising unchanging, static elements scantly able to interact with their surroundings, towards complex systemic compounds with an impact on the environs that entails more than mere anthropic alteration. In pursuit of energy efficiency and true sustainability, buildings must acquire the ability to interact as well as to generate synergies. The most prominent features of this approach are energy management and information flows which, intelligently designed, not only enhance buildings’ capabilities, but also introduce a significant change in their relationship with the surrounds (‘smart cities’) and its inhabitants. This new paradigm calls for revisiting undergraduate architectural instruction, adopting a more complex overview of energy use and management in the design process, regarding buildings as dynamic rather than static entities. The methodology focuses on creating learning environments that favour students’ participation in problem solving and assessment, encouraging teamwork based on case studies and stressing the connection between this new architecture, ICTs included, and social networks as participatory design tools. These ideas were implemented in a pilot learning experience conducted at the University of Seville for undergraduate students. The use of ICTs and the collaboration of non-academic experts were observed to further student promotion and projection beyond the academic environment and introduce them to the professional community.Peer reviewe

Overheating in Schools: Factors Determining Children’s Perceptions of Overall Comfort Indoors

Climate change is raising the length and intensity of the warm season in the academic year, with a very significant impact on indoor classroom conditions. Increasingly frequent episodes of extreme heat are having an adverse effect on school activities, whose duration may have to be shortened or pace slackened. Fitting facilities with air conditioning does not always solve the problem and may even contribute to discomfort or worsen health conditions, often as a result of insufficient ventilation. Users have traditionally adopted measures to adapt to these situations, particularly in warm climates where mechanical refrigeration is absent or unavailable. Implementation of such measures or of natural ventilation is not always possible or their efficacy is limited in school environments, however. Such constraints, especially in a context where reasonable energy use and operating costs are a primary concern, inform the need to identify the factors that contribute to users’ perceptions of comfort. This study deploys a post-occupancy strategy combined with participatory action to empower occupants as agents actively engaging in their own comfort. It addresses user-identified classroom comfort parameters potentially applicable in the design and layout of thermally suitable spaces meriting occupant acceptance.This research was funded by Data collection and study for the development of an Energy Efficiency Assessment Prototype of Active Participation Pilot Centers, grant number 3620/0451Peer reviewe

Energy related practices in Mediterranean low-income housing

The development of policies to improve energy efficiency and the retrofitting of the existing housing stock requires an adequate knowledge of the operation in practice and user needs. This becomes crucial when intervening in social housing, where household energy practices are likely to be confounded by energy affordability leading to outcomes that are distinct and suboptimal when compared to those conventionally assumed. A field survey and analyses applied to more than 700 homes from collective social housing buildings in the south of Spain is reported here. The results show a clear stratification of energy consumption and ownership of household appliances and thermal systems. An austere self-imposed use of energy appears, coupled with normative adoption of certain energy efficient habits particularly with respect to laundry. An emergence of multimedia and computer equipment seems to be changing the overall balance of use of equipment in homes. A clear income level above which provision of thermal comfort using mechanical means became affordable was found. The work provides useful data of home habits and identify the main underperformance issues of this representative household-group, what may feed the design of upgrade policies and optimization of energy access for this housing stock

Effect of Airtightness on Thermal Loads in Legacy Low-Income Housing

Spain’s high winter weather-associated death count, the second largest in Europe, can be attributed primarily to the low construction standards of its social housing, particularly the stock built prior to the entry into effect of the earliest statutory provisions on envelope quality. Hence, improving building envelopes to both reduce energy consumption and raise occupant comfort levels is important. Air leakage is one of the factors with the greatest impact on indoor comfort and domestic energy consumption. This study explores the sensitivity of energy consumption to that parameter in a series of types of social housing built between 1950 and 1979 in five Mediterranean climate zones. Demand in a total of 53 housing units located in 21 developments was simulated to that end. The findings show that air permeability has a significant effect on wintertime demand in the sample studied. Although the impact is greater in the more severe climates where it is estimated to be over 10 kWh/m2, it may also affect energy consumption in mild climates

The performance of Mediterranean low-income housing in scenarios involving climate change.

Social housing dating from the period between the Second World War and the end of the oil crisis is one of the major stores of residential stock of European cities. This housing stock is a major target for retrofitting given its characteristic poor thermal performance and inefficient control of energy consumption. This article proposes a method for analysing the dynamic capacity of thermal enclosures on moderate energy flows in building stock in climate change scenarios, estimating the potential for adaptation and strengths and weaknesses of several building categories exposed to different present and future climate scenarios. A pilot study applying the procedure is carried out in the city of Seville, one of the largest in southern Europe, with a representative northern Mediterranean climate. The approach designed is equally applicable to other urban centres in southern Europe. Although indoor comfort in cold weather must be addressed even in the least favourable future scenarios, the predominant concern for this stock is controlling heat gain. This study shows how, regardless of individual situations, thermal insulation alone does not guarantee an optimal response for the stock as a whole. Different categories can be identified within a given stock, where some buildings display significant resilience and potential for adaptation to new scenarios, while others have less scope for improvement. These conclusions can provide guidelines for the design of future intervention policies in southern Europe