Are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern Spain High Schools?
This study addresses the challenging research gap of assessing whether passive energy retrofit solutions are adequate for simultaneously achieving indoor air quality and thermal comfort in educational buildings, given the minimum ventilation rate required by Spanish regulations. A representative edu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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EDP Sciences
2025-01-01
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| Series: | E3S Web of Conferences |
| Online Access: | https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2025/36/e3sconf_icsree2025_01002.pdf |
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| author | Calama-González Carmen María Escandón Rocío Suárez Rafael |
| author_facet | Calama-González Carmen María Escandón Rocío Suárez Rafael |
| author_sort | Calama-González Carmen María |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study addresses the challenging research gap of assessing whether passive energy retrofit solutions are adequate for simultaneously achieving indoor air quality and thermal comfort in educational buildings, given the minimum ventilation rate required by Spanish regulations. A representative educational building is selected as case study to simulate the performance of the existing high school stock in southern Spain. Then, a multi-objective optimisation approach based on NSGA-II genetic algorithms is used for the evaluation of a range of passive energy retrofit strategies, with the aim of identifying the most effective. The findings indicate that, even though the minimum ventilation rate ensure indoor air quality, it is ineffective to maintain thermal comfort. This study highlights a clear overheating problem, especially in summer, that is aggravated when incorporating insulation to the envelope, given the high internal loads and the difficulty of heat dissipation of the envelope. It is concluded that optimising ventilation according to the seasonal period and applying higher ventilation rates than the ones established in the applicable regulations are crucial for reaching both indoor air quality and thermal comfort only considering passive retrofit solutions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c99e59167d6b403aa614bce67b01f08b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2267-1242 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | EDP Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | E3S Web of Conferences |
| spelling | doaj-art-c99e59167d6b403aa614bce67b01f08b2025-08-20T03:31:33ZengEDP SciencesE3S Web of Conferences2267-12422025-01-016360100210.1051/e3sconf/202563601002e3sconf_icsree2025_01002Are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern Spain High Schools?Calama-González Carmen María0Escandón Rocío1Suárez Rafael2Departamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas y su Control. Escuela Técnica Superior de Edificación. Universidad Politécnica de MadridInstituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de SevillaInstituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de SevillaThis study addresses the challenging research gap of assessing whether passive energy retrofit solutions are adequate for simultaneously achieving indoor air quality and thermal comfort in educational buildings, given the minimum ventilation rate required by Spanish regulations. A representative educational building is selected as case study to simulate the performance of the existing high school stock in southern Spain. Then, a multi-objective optimisation approach based on NSGA-II genetic algorithms is used for the evaluation of a range of passive energy retrofit strategies, with the aim of identifying the most effective. The findings indicate that, even though the minimum ventilation rate ensure indoor air quality, it is ineffective to maintain thermal comfort. This study highlights a clear overheating problem, especially in summer, that is aggravated when incorporating insulation to the envelope, given the high internal loads and the difficulty of heat dissipation of the envelope. It is concluded that optimising ventilation according to the seasonal period and applying higher ventilation rates than the ones established in the applicable regulations are crucial for reaching both indoor air quality and thermal comfort only considering passive retrofit solutions.https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2025/36/e3sconf_icsree2025_01002.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Calama-González Carmen María Escandón Rocío Suárez Rafael Are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern Spain High Schools? E3S Web of Conferences |
| title | Are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern Spain High Schools? |
| title_full | Are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern Spain High Schools? |
| title_fullStr | Are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern Spain High Schools? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern Spain High Schools? |
| title_short | Are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern Spain High Schools? |
| title_sort | are minimum indoor air quality requirements combined with passive retrofit solutions enough to guarantee thermal comfort in southern spain high schools |
| url | https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2025/36/e3sconf_icsree2025_01002.pdf |
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