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Indoor air quality in U.K. school classrooms ventilated by natural ventilation windcatchers

Jones, BM; Kirby, R; (2012) Indoor air quality in U.K. school classrooms ventilated by natural ventilation windcatchers. International Journal of Ventilation , 10 (4) 323 - 338. 10.1080/14733315.2012.11683959. Green open access

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Abstract

The provision of good IAQ in schools is important both for the health of students and in maximising educational achievement. It is, however, common for school classrooms to be significantly under-ventilated and this can lead to high levels of CO2 and other pollutants. Natural ventilation offers the potential to improve IAQ within schools whilst, at the same time reducing running and maintenance costs. Accordingly, this article examines a natural ventilation strategy based on the use of a roof mounted split-duct Windcatcher ventilator. Here, 16 U.K. classrooms are studied and CO2, temperature, relative humidity and ventilation rates are measured for the summer and winter seasons. Results show that, during the summer months, the ventilator is capable of significantly improving ventilation rates as well as reducing CO2 levels, especially when used in combination with open windows. However, in the winter months, the ventilator is seen not to open for a sufficient length of time and so CO2 levels rise above those required in the standards. Thus, the ventilator is shown to have the potential to improve IAQ within school classrooms, but the operation of the ventilator should be carefully controlled in order to realise these benefits. It is common for ventilation rates in school classrooms to fall below the levels required by relevant standards. The data presented here demonstrates that by using a top-down natural ventilation Windcatcher as part of a well designed natural ventilation strategy, ventilation rates in school classrooms can be significantly improved.

Type: Article
Title: Indoor air quality in U.K. school classrooms ventilated by natural ventilation windcatchers
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/14733315.2012.11683959
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14733315.2012.11683959
Language: English
Additional information: Full text made available here with permission from publisher
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1346486
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