While some schools in the UK struggle to keep their classrooms warm during the winter, newly built, energy-efficient schools struggle with heat in the summer. Repairing the building fabric and incorporating HVAC strategies for optimum comfort and air quality are essential for creating ideal learning environments.
Some school buildings in the UK are in dire conditions. Crumbling, freezing, unusable – that’s how a recent report by the BBC described the detrimental state of various school buildings across the country.
First and foremost, school buildings need to be fixed so that they are in an adequate state for students to receive their education. Any leaks need to be stopped, crumbling or dangerous building materials replaced with safe options. But while schools are being repaired, the focus also needs to be on indoor air quality and temperatures.
The condition the schools are in directly impacts learning outcomes for students: studies have shown that heat reduces performance by up to 14%. The negative effects on cognitive abilities if too much CO2 is present in a room have been known for over 100 years, and have received increased attention since the pandemic. Particulate matter is another area of concerns, especially for primary schools near roads, as high levels can lead to asthma, especially in younger children whose lungs are still developing.
New HVAC systems and optimised HVAC controls can deliver optimal comfort conditions in schools and ensure that the air quality is ideal for learning and not damaging to health.
Energy Efficiency Results in Overly Heated Classrooms
It is estimated that UK school buildings contribute 15% to the total energy consumption of public and commercial buildings. Recent guidelines for building new schools have focused on energy efficiency. Given that in those buildings we are educating the future generation that will suffer the worst from climate change, it is crucial that guidelines for lowering emissions are in place.
But unfortunately, those new regulations don’t consider indoor air quality and temperatures. New school buildings that have been built according to those new regulations are more energy efficient but are also at risk from overheating in the summer and breeching the threshold of safe CO2 and PM2.5 levels.
Researchers have assessed the indoor air quality and overheating levels of classrooms in new low-carbon primary schools during heating and non-heating season. The results show that the classrooms have overheating issues in the summer: for over 40% of school hours most of the classrooms were too hot. In addition, the maximum levels of CO2 concentrations were surpassed for more than 60% during heating and non-heating season and PM2.5 reached levels higher than 20 μg/m3 during the heating season which suggests that individuals were exposed to levels higher than the recommended levels.
While the newer buildings lowered energy use, their airtight construction reduced comfort and air quality. An improvement in ventilation and control of the entire HVAC infrastructure will be needed to improve air quality and prevent overheating during the warmer months while keeping the energy usage low.
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