Thermal comfort conditions and air quality in educational buildings in Cyprus during the heating period: the impact of natural ventilation

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the indoor comfort conditions in a typical classroom of a secondary school in Cyprus and explore the impact of natural ventilation on both thermal comfort and air quality. Natural ventilation is a significant parameter in the design of school premises as it affects human comfort conditions and thus students' health, learning ability and performance. Within the frame of the present study indoor and outdoor environmental conditions were seasonally monitored. Various ventilation strategies and window opening patterns were examined in order to identify the best option to exploit natural ventilation as a means to achieve optimum air quality, especially during wintertime. The in-situ measurements of temperature and relative humidity were analysed in correlation with CO2 levels. Data was collected during both occupied and unoccupied hours. The measurements indicate values that often exceed the limits defined by standards. Moreover, the study shows that selected ventilation patterns, and window opening patterns, allow the improvement of air quality with minimum heat losses in wintertime. Conclusions present potential improvements in achieving better air quality and thermal comfort conditions. Educational buildings in Cyprus may utilize the proposed improvements, as well as other similar buildings in southern Europe, with climatic conditions and building typologies in educational architecture as those described in the Cypriot setting.