Why and how the school buildings are affecting your child's health and performance-Part 1
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In the last Sustainability in the built environment we looked at healthier offices, in this article we will look at how can we make the learning experience more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Kids are very sensitive to changes in temperature, humidity and presence of airborne contaminants, so we will look at:
- Thermal Comfort
- Indoor Air Quality
- Noise and Acoustics
- Daylighting and Lighting
Thermal Comfort
What is thermal comfort?
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWX5XSzfLyFsB3ASeaUQ7LHdjm8Q4pMmYUgWKK3RG86AZ/thermal%20comfort.jpg)
How does thermal comfort affect kids?
Remember Sick Building Syndrome in the last sustainability post?(of course you don't) Studies have shown that:
- Higher humidity increases the rate of SBS in children.
- "Too hot" or "Too cold" conditions can cause respiratory issues in kids.
- Children are more sensitive to higher temperatures than adults because of their higher core body temperature and less developed thermoregulation capabilities (remember in Biology 101 the hypothalamus, YES!! That one!!)
1.An increase in temperature by 1 degF/-17 degC can decrease a child's test scores by 0.2% (A Study of 75,000 New York City Student).
2.Students in a comfortable classroom achieved 4% more correct answers in a math test compared to those who were hot (A study of more than 4,000 Finnish Students).
3.A study amongst 3,000 US Students has shown that a 1 degC decrease in classroom temperature showed a 12-13 point increase in math scores, (Explains why math was hard during cold days).
What is the role of green buildings in improving thermal comfort?
- In cold climates setting temperature points to meet children's needs reduces energy costs associated with heating, as children prefer lower temperatures (Thermoregulation issue stated above).
- Properly designed and placed windows help improve natural ventilation which can moderate the temperature and reduce energy needed for cooling and associated carbon emissions.
- If mechanical ventilation is provided, it should be energy efficient and at the same time be able to provide a comfortable temperature and humidity level.
Indoor Air Quality
What is indoor air quality?
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcgnM862EjXdjyTn5fjDpUCin9G2ad2mABUMEmkLkWV4y/IAQ.png)
So, what is IAQ? In layman terms it's the quality of air we breath indoor or outdoor and it's defined by concentrations of various pollutants such as:
- Carbon dioxide
- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
- Moulds (yes that musty damp smell)
- Dust
- Airborne fungi
In an earlier article we discussed about SBS (Symptoms, Causes and how to avoid exposure to the causes). Children are more susceptible to SBS than adults because they inhale more pollutants per body weight than adults, due to higher breathing rates.
How does IAQ affect kids?
- Exposure to indoor VOCs has been linked to SBS symptoms in kids (remember formaldehyde).
- In high concentrations, carbon dioxide has been linked to symptoms of wheezing among children. An increase of carbon dioxide of 1000 PPM has been linked to 10% - 20% increase in school absenteeism
Read More here: Effects of too much carbon dioxide in the blood - Low ventilation rates have been linked to incidences of SBS and increased visits to the nurse's office. On the other hand higher ventilation rates have been associated with faster and more accurate student responses for colour, picture memory and word recognition.
What is the role of green buildings in improving IAQ?
- If conditions allow try as much as possible to use natural ventilation which refreshes indoor air without increasing energy consumption. Green buildings are designed to take advantage of natural ventilation as much as possible.
Check out @solarguy's post on an ECO-Home, a great example of natural ventilation in action.
2.Onsite or offsite renewable energy sources can be used to run hybrid mechanical ventilation when needed thus reducing overall carbon emissions.
3 Low or Zero VOC furnishings, materials can help reduce pollutants and green buildings advocate for the use of safe materials, furnishings for building occupants.
Conclusion
We have seen how thermal comfort and IAQ affect kids and what can be done to improve student health and performance all without increasing greenhouse gas emissions. A WIN-WIN!!! YAAAY!!!
References
- World Green Building Council
- Wikipedia: Indoor Air Quality
- EPA:Introduction to Indoor Air Quality
Image Sources
Green Schools, Thermal Comfort, Indoor Air Quality
Stay tuned for the next article Noise and Daylighting
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this is great and enlightening
Thank you!, stay tuned for part 2.
Thanks for sharing
A well-composed stuff. Nice one
Thank you :), keep coming back for more great content
Your post looks great. Formatting and content kept me reading. I like the little Steem ribbons you use.
Thank you, I try to make my posts as captivating as possible but still informative.
And you're succeeding :)
Well done! The formatting and presenting is amazing. Wish I can do all that to. Must learn from you.
Regarding LEED. I see it everyday and it is becoming more and more common for building owners and developers to achieve not only in schools but everything. I must study and get LEED certification as it is getting more and more widely utilized. Thanks.
LEED is a good certification to have foe anyone interested in sustainabliliry and I encourage you to get certified and so will I, by mid 2018 hopefully.
I am already studying for GA and focusing on BD+C. Problem though just this past few months I discovered steemit and cannot get myself to stop coming to this platform lol. To little time to do everything I want. Thanks!
You will definitely make it. Quick one, I want to make you a judge in a contest am running as part of the #dolphinschool challenge, it's just choosing the best topic amongst the replies in the contest, please?
this is good, I'm not a parent yet but I'd totally factor in this while school hunting. thank you.
Hopeully by the time you become one, the schools undertaking steps to improve IAQ will be affordable, we have Nova Academies, Cmbridge International...you get the gist!
You have received an upvote from @livesustainably. I promote and curate content that encourages and educates others in living sustainably. You can support the live sustainably cause on Steemit by upvoting, resteeming and creating content under the tag #livesustainably.
Nice post. It was left as a homework assignment from Dolphinschool however and does not fit the criteria.
Thank you for reviewing the post, I really appreciate it so much, I realised I didn't tag the assignment tags, won't happen again going forward, I can't thank you enough for the #dolphinschool challenge.
You're most welcome. If it was correctable, I'd gladly add it, but once you choose categories, they are permanent.
If it's ok I want to redo my day 2 assignment and resubmit (i have already done it, want to submit)
Sure, can you leave it on the day 2 homework post? Thanks. I'll get to it tomorrow.
As always great, straight to the point and very useful content. Keep up
on a lighter note send me this
Will sure do.