scholarly journals A Review of Balcony Impacts on the Indoor Environmental Quality of Dwellings

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina Ribeiro ◽  
Nuno M. M. Ramos ◽  
Inês Flores-Colen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Visual Comfort ◽  
Acoustic Comfort ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Comprehensive Study

Balconies are an ancient architectural archetype that are being increasingly considered in multi-family buildings of high-density cities. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the impacts of balcony types on the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and energy consumption of dwellings. Of the reviewed studies, 69% were published during the last decade, making it evident that awareness of the positive impact of balcony spaces is continuously increasing. The literature review allowed us to identify three balcony spaces according to their morphology and their boundary system: open balcony (OB), glazed balcony (GB), and eliminate balcony (EB). It was concluded that these balcony types produce relevant impacts in four factors that contribute to the indoor environmental quality: thermal comfort, indoor air quality, visual comfort, and acoustic comfort. Practical design recommendations and constraints were provided according to distinct climatic conditions and building technologies. This review also explored the assessment methodologies used for the optimization of the balconies on the design process. The literature highlighted the lack of a comprehensive study about the impact of balconies in mild and Mediterranean climates, as well as the knowledge limitations concerning the balance between the impacts on IEQ factors.

scholarly journals Effects of Climatic Conditions, Season and Environmental Factors on CO2 Concentrations in Naturally Ventilated Primary Schools in Chile

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4139
Author(s):  
Muriel Diaz ◽  
Mario Cools ◽  
Maureen Trebilcock ◽  
Beatriz Piderit-Moreno ◽  
Shady Attia
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Co2 Concentrations ◽  
The Impact

Between the ages of 6 and 18, children spend between 30 and 42 h a week at school, mostly indoors, where indoor environmental quality is usually deficient and does not favor learning. The difficulty of delivering indoor air quality (IAQ) in learning facilities is related to high occupancy rates and low interaction levels with windows. In non-industrialized countries, as in the cases presented, most classrooms have no mechanical ventilation, due to energy poverty and lack of normative requirements. This fact heavily impacts the indoor air quality and students’ learning outcomes. The aim of the paper is to identify the factors that determine acceptable CO2 concentrations. Therefore, it studies air quality in free-running and naturally ventilated primary schools in Chile, aiming to identify the impact of contextual, occupant, and building design factors, using CO2 concentration as a proxy for IAQ. The monitoring of CO2, temperature, and humidity revealed that indoor air CO2 concentration is above 1400 ppm most of the time, with peaks of 5000 ppm during the day, especially in winter. The statistical analysis indicates that CO2 is dependent on climate, seasonality, and indoor temperature, while it is independent of outside temperature in heated classrooms. The odds of having acceptable concentrations of CO2 are bigger when indoor temperatures are high, and there is a need to ventilate for cooling.

Short-term Measurements of Indoor Environmental Quality in Selected Offices – Case Study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludmila Meciarova ◽  
Silvia Vilcekova ◽  
Eva Kridlova Burdova ◽  
Ilija Zoran Apostoloski ◽  
Danica Kosicanova
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Climate ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Healthy Environment ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
The One

Decent quality of indoor air is important for health and wellbeing of building users. We live, work and study in indoors of various types of buildings. Often people are exposed to pollutants at higher concentrations than these that occur out-doors. Continual investigation of indoor air quality is needed for ensuring comfort and healthy environment. Measuring and analysis of occurrence of physical, chemical and biological factors is the first step for suggestion of optimization measures. Inside school buildings there are often inadequate indoor climate conditions such as thermal comfort parame-ters or ventilation. The aim of this study was determination of indoor environmental quality in selected offices in the building of elementary school in Slovakia. The values of operative temperature were not within the optimum range of values for the warm period of the year in one of the monitored offices. The intensity of illumination was lower in the two offices. Low levels of particulate matters were measured except the one office where permissible value was exceeded by 7.6%.

scholarly journals Study of impact of increased number of devotees on indoor environmental quality of heritage temples of goddess Mahalaxmi at Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India.

2020 ◽  
Vol 170 ◽  
pp. 05004
Author(s):  
Anjali Jadhav ◽  
Sushma Kulkarni ◽  
Ashish Rege
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Natural Ventilation ◽  
Nasal Congestion ◽  
Good Condition ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Standard Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Temple

India has a great cultural heritage of temples across the country. There is a wide variety of temples of variety of deities constructed from East to West and North to South of India. Most of the temples are built centuries ago and still are in good condition and the centre of cultural activities. Mahalaxmi temple precinct is a very old precinct in Kolhapur, built in 8th century by Chalukyan rulers. Every year lacs of devotees are visiting this temple of goddess Mahalaxmi from most of the part of India. The temple is constructed of basalt stone with beautiful intricate carving on it. This paper focus on indoor environmental quality of the temple which is deteriorated due to the impact of increased number of devotees. Some of the devotees face the problem of suffocation, fatigue, fainting, irritation, nasal congestion; as provision of vents are absent and natural ventilation is not available inside the shrine of goddess Mahalaxmi. Due to lack of air exchange and natural ventilation the indoor environmental quality is deteriorated. It is observed that the CO2 level is increased, decreased in O2 level, rise in temperature and humidity above the standard level causing discomfort.

scholarly journals The Comfort Map—A Possible Tool for Increasing Personal Comfort in Office Workplaces

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Ágnes Borsos ◽  
Erzsébet Szeréna Zoltán ◽  
Éva Pozsgai ◽  
Balázs Cakó ◽  
Gabriella Medvegy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Considerable Effect ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Visual Comfort ◽  
Acoustic Comfort ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Office Employees

Previous studies have shown that indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters may have a considerable effect on office employees’ comfort, health and performance. Therefore, we initiated a research program to help occupants identify IEQ parameters they perceive as risk factors for their health in an office and enhance their comfort levels in an office environment. Since we assumed that office employees might have different indoor environmental quality expectations related to their work area and that these differences could be measured, our objective was to develop an office ‘comfort map’ based on occupants’ individual IEQ preferences. Thus, the goal of the comfort map would be to help tailor office spaces to their occupants’ health and comfort expectations. The comfort survey was developed to assess the comfort-related opinions of the occupants, based on IEQ parameters (visual comfort, acoustic comfort, air quality and thermal comfort) of a chosen open-plan office building. The survey also assessed the degree to which the given IEQ parameter was considered a health risk factor by occupants or caused a negative comfort sensation for them. The survey was filled in by 216 occupants. The answers were then analyzed with the help of a frequency table depicting relative frequency. The measurements of IEQ parameters took place in an open-plan office in the chosen office building (a Hungarian subsidiary’s office building belonging to an international company in Budapest). The occupants had different opinions regarding the perceived effects of the IEQ parameters on their health and comfort. Almost two-thirds of the respondents (64.8%) were dissatisfied with the adjustability of the noises and sounds IEQ parameter at their workstation. Furthermore, half of the respondents (50.1%) were dissatisfied with the adjustability of ventilation. Most of the occupants (45.8%) considered noises and sounds as the IEQ parameter that had a negative effect on their health. There were also IEQ differences between different areas of the office space. Based on these results, a comfort map was developed for the office. The comfort map contains information about the IEQ characteristics of each workstation by depicting the thermal comfort, carbon dioxide, visual comfort and acoustic comfort characteristics of a given workstation on a relative scale. Based on the thermal, air, acoustic, and lighting differences between the workstations, occupants can select their preferred workstations when a desk-sharing system works. Although still in its pilot phase, the comfort map could increase the chances for office employees to find the workstation best suited to their IEQ expectations. This could improve occupants’ overall comfort level, which could in turn enhance occupants’ productivity and mental as well as physical health.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review on Indoor Environmental Quality in Naturally Ventilated School Classrooms: A Way Forward

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Nishant Raj Kapoor ◽  
Ashok Kumar ◽  
Chandan Swaroop Meena ◽  
Anuj Kumar ◽  
Tabish Alam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
School Buildings ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Future Research Direction ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
Acoustic Comfort

This review presents the existing state-of-the-art practices of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in naturally ventilated school buildings and is mainly focused on the components of IEQ like thermal comfort, indoor air quality with ventilation, and visual and acoustic comfort. This article also discusses the impacts of COVID-19 on naturally ventilated school buildings, highlighting the obviousness of dynamic applications that concentrate on reducing COVID-19 effects in naturally ventilated school buildings. The importance of the concerned issues and factors are discussed in detail for future research direction. This review is a step toward the development of the IEQ standard for naturally ventilated school buildings.

scholarly journals Working from Home in Italy during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Survey to Assess the Indoor Environmental Quality and Productivity

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 660
Author(s):  
Francesco Salamone ◽  
Benedetta Barozzi ◽  
Alice Bellazzi ◽  
Lorenzo Belussi ◽  
Ludovico Danza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Work Productivity ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Visual Comfort ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Relevant Variable ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Working From Home

Italians were the first European citizens to experience the lockdown due to Sars-Cov-2 in March 2020. Most employees were forced to work from home. People suddenly had to share common living spaces with family members for longer periods of time and convert home spaces into workplaces. This inevitably had a subjective impact on the perception, satisfaction and preference of indoor environmental quality and work productivity. A web-based survey was designed and administered to Italian employees to determine how they perceived the indoor environmental quality of residential spaces when Working From Home (WFH) and to investigate the relationship between different aspects of users’ satisfaction. A total of 330 valid questionnaires were collected and analysed. The article reports the results of the analyses conducted using a descriptive approach and predictive models to quantify comfort in living spaces when WFH, focusing on respondents’ satisfaction. Most of them were satisfied with the indoor environmental conditions (89% as the sum of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses for thermal comfort, 74% for visual comfort, 68% for acoustic quality and 81% for indoor air quality), while the layout of the furniture negatively influenced the WFH experience: 45% of the participants expressed an unsatisfactory or neutral opinion. The results of the sentiment analysis confirmed this trend. Among the Indoor Environmental factors that affect productivity, visual comfort is the most relevant variable. As for the predictive approach using machine learning, the Support Vector Machine classifier performed best in predicting overall satisfaction.

Indoor environmental quality assessment: Part 1: Choice of the indoor environmental quality sub-component models

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 264-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Piasecki ◽  
Krystyna Kostyrko ◽  
Sławomir Pykacz
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Quality Model ◽  
Metrological Analysis ◽  
Environmental Quality Assessment ◽  
Comfort Perception ◽  
Acoustic Comfort

Indoor environment quality is a relative measure of comfort perception by people exposed to the indoor conditions. It is expected that any assessment of energy performance should also include indoor comfort. This study is to review indoor environmental quality models (with respect to thermal and acoustic comfort, indoor air and lighting quality). A simplified indoor environmental quality model is also developed with consideration of EN 15251 draft ‘Guideline for using indoor environmental input parameters for the design and assessment of energy performance of buildings’. This article analyses what components should be modelled and in particular discusses the effect of different weighting schemes on the overall indoor environmental quality index. The analysis includes thermal comfort models, indoor air quality, acoustic comfort and daylight illumination versus lightning. The proposed indoor environmental quality component sub-models will give the most reliable results when the model indoor environment input data are correctly measured and disturbing influences of indoor environmental quality monitoring process are well defined and properly assessed. The final indoor environmental quality result is based on subjoining the uncertainty values achieved in panel analysis of percentage of persons dissatisfied with indoor environmental quality with corrected measurement uncertainty. All simulations for IEQindex sub-components and preliminary metrological analysis of the whole indoor environmental quality model were performed with the NIST program for Monte Carlo tests. The presented indoor environmental quality model proposal is developed to support engineers’ practice as the convenient tool for a practical assessment of building’s occupational satisfaction.

The impact of retailers' indoor environmental quality on consumer purchase decision

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Van Thac Dang ◽  
Ninh Nguyen ◽  
Jianming Wang
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Purchase Intention ◽  
Hedonic Experience ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeA review of 67 articles in the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) literature published from 2010 to 2020 reveals that none of prior studies have determined the IEQ of physical retailers and its impact on consumers. To fill such a gap, this study investigates the influence of physical retailers' IEQ on consumer purchase intention. The mediating roles of hedonic experience and perceived brand value (PBV) in this relationship are also determined. Furthermore, the moderating effect of perceived service quality (PSQ) on the link between physical retailers' IEQ and PBV is clarified in this study.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze a sample data of 996 consumers in China.FindingsResults show that physical retailers' IEQ has a positive impact on consumer purchase intention. Hedonic experience mediates the link between IEQ and purchase intention. PBV also mediates the relationship between IEQ and purchase intention and that between hedonic experience and purchase intention. In addition, PSQ moderates the relationship between IEQ and PBV.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to determine the impact of IEQ on consumers in the physical retailer context. Specifically, this study enriches our knowledge about the relationship between physical retailers' IEQ and consumer purchase intention with the mediating and moderating mechanisms of hedonic experience, PBV and PSQ. The findings fill the research gaps in the IEQ literature that has ignored the impact of IEQ on consumers' perception and behavioral intention in the physical retailer context. Furthermore, this research provides evidence for retailer managers to understand and improve physical stores' IEQ.

scholarly journals Effect of indoor environmental quality on visual comfort and productivity in office buildings

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Kaushik ◽  
Mohammed Arif ◽  
Obas John Ebohon ◽  
Hord Arsalan ◽  
Muhammad Qasim Rana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Maximum Effect ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Visual Comfort ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Occupant Comfort ◽  
Statistical Relationships ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The Purpose of this paper is to identify statistical relationships between visual environment and occupant productivity. Visual environment is one of the most important indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters, and it directly impacts occupant productivity in offices. The literature outlines the significance of the impact. Still, there is a lack of investigation, statistical analysis and inter-relationships between the independent variables (IEQ factors), especially in the hot and arid climate. Design/methodology/approach This study presents a research study investigating the effects and shows statistical relationships between IEQ on occupant comfort and productivity. The study was conducted in the Middle East, and data was collected for 12 months. It used the response surface analysis to perform analysis. Findings This study outlined seven unique relationships highlighting the recommended range, inter-dependencies. Results include that illumination has maximum effect on visual comfort and temperature, daylight having direct influence and relative humidity, wall type next to the seat and kind of workspace also impact visual comfort and productivity. These findings would help to improve occupant comfort and productivity in office buildings. It is recommended to include results and recommendations on design guidelines for office buildings. Originality/value This study presents the unique effects of non-visual IEQ parameters on visual comfort and productivity. This investigation also provides a unique method to develop the statistical relationship between various indoor environmental factors and productivity in different contexts and buildings.

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