Survey Based Evaluation of Indoor Environment in an Administrative Military Facility

Aleksejs Prozuments,Anatolijs Borodinecs,Jurgis Zemitis

doi:10.5755/j01.sace.27.2.26079

Aleksejs Prozuments, Anatolijs Borodinecs + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.27.2.26079

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Abstract

Military facilities feature distinctive requirements with regards to building technical and structural design, material use and indoor environmental conditions (IEC), as these buildings serve specific purpose and the personnel occupying the premises may wear uniform or protective clothing (administrative staff, special forces, training personnel etc.), that can greatly affect their satisfaction level with thermal comfort and productivity. In order to acquire data on the actual indoor environment conditions and obtain a feedback from the occupying personnel on their satisfaction level with the IEC in an administrative military building situated in a special purpose military compound, a series of IAQ measurements (temperature, humidity, CO2 level) and a survey on indoor air quality and thermal comfort was conducted in different premises of the administrative office building. A total of 73 respondents occupying the building participated in the survey. The results of the conducted survey revealed that there is a high degree of dissatisfaction with the IEC in military buildings, that is attributed to inadequate ventilation and overtemperature. That matched the collected indoor environmental quality (IEQ) data, forming a direct relationship between the poor energy efficiency and low satisfaction rate with IEC. The study reiterates the need to address the poor current technical state of unclassified building stock, emphasizes the call for developing clear regulatory requirements for newly-constructed unclassified buildings and thorough feasibility assessment for renovation projects. 

Highlights

The majority of unclassified buildings in Latvia were constructed during Soviet Union period between 1945 and 1990, when Latvia was part of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
During that period building design and construction had little or no emphasis on energy efficiency efforts, as the energy prices were relatively low and cost optimization measures focused on short term rather than long term investments, putting fast construction time and use of rigid, durable materials ahead of sustainability strategies, such as building energy performance (Carlsmith et al 1990)
A decade later, after becoming a member of the EU, the local building energy efficiency standards in Latvia were tightened further with the general aim to meet the common energy criteria requirements among the EU member countries (Anon 2007), as of today unclassified building stock is still deemed obsolete in terms of energy performance, as only a handful of unclassified buildings were constructed after 1990s to comply with the updated regulatory environment

Summary

Introduction

During that period building design and construction had little or no emphasis on energy efficiency efforts, as the energy prices were relatively low and cost optimization measures focused on short term rather than long term investments, putting fast construction time and use of rigid, durable materials ahead of sustainability strategies, such as building energy performance (Carlsmith et al 1990). These buildings feature heavy brick external walls and unheated attics with poor thermal insulation. In addition to initial poor technical conditions, the majority of unclassified buildings have not undergone proper energy management or energy audits due to enhanced security, data protection and limited access to these buildings (Borodinecs et al 2020)

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