Monitoring indoor thermal performance in a National School Property Portfolio

ABSTRACT

The New Zealand Ministry of Education has a single electronic monitoring device (sensor) that simultaneously measures five environmental elements (light, temperature, relative humidity, noise, and carbon dioxide levels) in some schools. The aim is to develop an indoor environment monitoring protocol to inform proactive assets management of school buildings. This study used observations and actual measurements of these environmental variables in three typical classrooms in three schools, to assess whether the use of a one-point sensor in one location could predict the thermal condition across a classroom. The results revealed that a single sensor located at a height of 1.5 m on an unglazed vertical wall with a low thermal mass, and away from direct sunlight, heating and cooling systems, and drafts from open windows can be used to identify good and poor thermal conditions in classrooms. A one-point sensor provides a general indication of the thermal performance of a room, but not the thermal variations across the room. This study provides a systematic method for using a single sensor to monitor thermal performance in a large school property portfolio for early discrimination from hundreds or more classrooms to direct thermal intervention programmes for large groups of school buildings.

KEYWORDS:

• Temperature
• humidity
• sensors
• classrooms
• property

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the New Zealand Ministry of Education and the case study schools which we are unable to mention the name due to reasons of confidentiality and the Learning Environment team in the School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aniebietabasi Ackley

Aniebietabasi Ackley is a sustainable architecture professional and scholar who has worked both in the private sector and in government with a wealth of experience in the building industry. His research explores the interface between architecture and engineering, to strengthen ties between architects and engineers. Ackley is passionate about user centred design and healthy and sustainable buildings, with a focus on improving indoor environments in schools, homes, offices, and health care facilities.

Michael Donn

Michael Donn has a 30+ years' experience as a building scientist: interested particularly in modelling ‘BIM Cameos’ (since 1992) for healthy, sustainable workplaces. He co-lead's a research focused on Net Zero Energy Buildings. His area of expertise includes daylight and natural ventilation, heating, cooling, acoustic and lighting performance; digital craft animation and building information management in 3D models of the built environment. Michael has over 207 published research works.

Geoff Thomas

Geoff Thomas is an engineer and scholar with experience in fire safety in buildings, fires after earthquakes and earthquake resistance of domestic dwelling foundations. He has been working with the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) on assessing the performance of houses in the Canterbury earthquake sequence and most recently been involved in building performance studies, particularly regarding to improving the quality of the indoor environment in office and school buildings.