Thermal conditions within an educational building

Abstract

Current trends show that energy consumption is increasing. A substantial part of this energy is consumed in trying to maintain buildings at comfortable levels. People have become more aware about this and measures are being adopted in building design to reduce this need. The context of building is defined by climate and materials. Many examples of past architecture have special design features that provide comfortable living conditions, without the expenditure of conventional energy sources. The past 50 years has seen some obvious shortcomings in this area. Planners tend to ignore any rapport with the environment, together with the absence of any analysis, study or enhancement of the natural elements. The aim of this study was to assess the thermal performance of an existing building. It was decided to investigate an educational building, St. Benedict's College, which was apparently designed and constructed with these concepts in mind. Concepts intended to attain thermal comfort without the need to expend large amounts of energy. Unfortunately, the application of certain concepts may not have been the result of planned and studied building design methods with regards to the local climate. In this study, certain classrooms in St. Benedict's College were monitored for temperature and relative humidity levels during the winter scholastic period. The building design and certain features were noted and explored. Thermal comfort surveys were assigned to the occupants of some classrooms to obtain an indication of their sensation. The heat exchange processes taking place from the indoor to the external environment were calculated together with the internal heat gains generated by occupants, lighting and appliances.