Abstract
In this paper, ventilation, indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal and acoustic conditions, and lighting were studied to evaluate the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in an institutional building at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. This study examined IEQ parameters, including pressure, illuminance, acoustics, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, temperature, and humidity, with appropriate monitors allocated during a lecture (duration 50 min or 80 min) in four lecture classrooms repeatedly (N = 99) from October 2018 to March 2019 with the objectives of providing a comprehensive analysis of interactions between IEQ parameters. The classroom environments were maintained at 23 ± 1 °C and 33% ± 3% RH during two-season measurements. Indoor mean CO2 concentrations were 550–1055 ppm, and a mean sound level of 58 ± 3 dBA was observed. The air change rates were configured at 1.3–6.5 per hour based on continuous CO2 measurements and occupant loads in the lectures. A variance analysis indicated that the within-lecture classroom variations in most IEQ parameters exceeded between-lecture classrooms. A multilayer artificial neural network (ANN) model was developed on the basis of feedforward networks with a backpropagation algorithm. ANN results demonstrated the importance of the sequence of covariates on indoor conditions (temperature, RH, and CO2 level): Air change rate (ACR) > room operations (occupant number and light system) > outdoor conditions.
Highlights
During the past three decades, indoor air quality (IAQ) has received increased research attention, and a wide range of indoor air pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, inorganic compounds, and radon, have been assessed and characterized in various indoor environments: Offices, schools, supermarkets, houses, and so on [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
The variance analysis indicated that the within-lecture classroom variations in most indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters exceeded between-lecture classrooms (Table 3)
Temperature and RH had almost equal within- and between-classroom variations indicating that the central HVAC system, combined with VAV terminal reheat boxes, provided constant conditioned air to the classrooms, resistant to influence from fluctuations from other indoor and outdoor factors across the heating season
Summary
During the past three decades, indoor air quality (IAQ) has received increased research attention, and a wide range of indoor air pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, inorganic compounds, and radon, have been assessed and characterized in various indoor environments: Offices, schools, supermarkets, houses, and so on [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) has received increasing attention from the public under the context of global climate change and the green building initiative. Aspects of IEQ that directly influence the comfort, health, productivity, and satisfaction of occupants of a building include ventilation, IAQ, acoustic and thermal conditions, and illumination. While children and youth represent a potentially vulnerable population, adult students in universities are a large prospective cohort whose institutional environment should be explored
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