Impact of Pandemic Safety Measures on Students’ Thermal Comfort—Case Study: Romania

Abstract

The indoor environmental quality of a building has attracted everyone’s attention since a worldwide pandemic was declared and forced people indoors. After several months, people were able to return to their usual activities, but with strict safety measures added due to the circumstances. This paper focuses on the impact of safety measures on students’ thermal comfort, a case study performed in a continental climate zone, during the winter. The methodology used involved the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. Descriptive statistics and frequencies alongside correlations and cross-tabular methods were used to analyze the collected data. The results indicated that the predicted mean vote (PMV) underestimated students’ thermal perception. A difference of 1.5 °C was found between the operative neutral temperature of the PMV and students’ thermal sensation votes while wearing masks. Likewise, a lower neutral operative temperature was found for students wearing masks than for those without masks. Students wearing masks preferred a slightly cooler environment and a significant difference was found (p = 0.001) between students’ thermal comfort votes. All of these findings indicate that there is a potential for energy savings without affecting students’ thermal comfort.