Abstract
A large part of the school building stock in Andalusia lacks ventilation facilities, so that the air renewal of the classrooms is achieved through the building envelope (air infiltration) or the opening of windows. This research analyses the airtightness of the classrooms in Andalusia and the evolution of CO2 concentration during school hours through in situ monitoring. Pressurization and depressurization tests were performed in 42 classrooms and CO2 concentration was measured in two different periods, winter and midseason, to study the impact of the different levels of aperture of windows. About 917 students (11–17 years of age) were surveyed on symptoms and effects on their health. The mean n50 values are about 7 h−1, whereas the average CO2 concentration values are about 1878 ppm, with 42% of the case studies displaying concentrations above 2000 ppm with windows closed.
Highlights
When the environmental performance of building envelopes is analysed, ventilation is identified as one of the main variables affecting energy demand, the degree of environmental comfort (ISO 7730: 2005; UNE-CR 1752: 2008) [1,2], the accumulation rate of CO2, suspended particles and pollutants (EN15251: 2007) [3], and respiratory health in prolonged periods of exposure [4].In non-residential buildings, European ventilation standards (EN 13779: 2008) [5] establish the need to guarantee a minimum outdoor airflow to ensure adequate Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) control, making it necessary to resort to mechanical ventilation with stages of infiltration
In Spain, it was only in 2007 that the regulations established that the ventilation of the school buildings had to be mechanical in order to ensure an adequate IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) [6]
In the wide study sample of classrooms with no mechanical ventilation system in middle schools in the Mediterranean area, no direct relationship has been identified between the airtightness of the envelope and the internal concentration of CO2
Summary
When the environmental performance of building envelopes is analysed, ventilation is identified as one of the main variables affecting energy demand, the degree of environmental comfort (ISO 7730: 2005; UNE-CR 1752: 2008) [1,2], the accumulation rate of CO2 , suspended particles and pollutants (EN15251: 2007) [3], and respiratory health in prolonged periods of exposure [4].In non-residential buildings, European ventilation standards (EN 13779: 2008) [5] establish the need to guarantee a minimum outdoor airflow to ensure adequate Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) control, making it necessary to resort to mechanical ventilation with stages of infiltration. In Spain, it was only in 2007 that the regulations established that the ventilation of the school buildings had to be mechanical in order to ensure an adequate IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) [6]. 8000 schools in the school building stock of the Mediterranean area do not meet this requirement [7]. Adapting these buildings would entail major investment, maintenance and energy consumption. For this reason, several public bodies in Spain are promoting natural ventilation as a system for the control of IAQ, contrary to what is established in these regulations
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