Dong, Jie;
Schwartz, Yair;
Korolija, Ivan;
Mumovic, Dejan;
(2023)
The impact of climate change on cognitive performance of children in English school stock: A simulation study.
Building and Environment
, 243
, Article 110607. 10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110607.
(In press).
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Abstract
Children in England spend around 30% of their time in schools to gain knowledge and skills. Climate change could impact schools' thermal environments and children's learning performance by impairing their cognitive ability. This study presents an evaluation approach to investigating and quantifying climate change's impact on the cognitive performance of children across English school stocks. The study also evaluates the potential of possible strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change. The results show that future climates are projected to increase cognitive performance loss of children in school archetypes representative of school stocks, with variations based on regional climate characteristics. Increasing ventilation rates proves to be an effective means of reducing cognitive performance loss, while its effectiveness diminishes as outdoor temperatures rise in the future. Thus, the introduction of air conditioning becomes a potentially more beneficial strategy, despite the associated increase in cooling energy demand. Moreover, higher ventilation rates in air-conditioned classrooms can further improve children's cognitive performance. The use of cognitive performance loss as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) allows for better communication and understanding of climate change risks faced by schools among building and non-building experts. The proposed evaluation approach remains adjustable and can be continuously updated and enhanced as new insights from psychological research emerge.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The impact of climate change on cognitive performance of children in English school stock: A simulation study |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110607 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110607 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | School, Climate change, Cognitive performance, Climate resilience, Climate adaptation, Building stock modelling |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10173833 |
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