By the time a child is finishing school they have spent approximately 20,000+ hours in school. At a time when they are still developing do we think of how the buildings the learn in affect their health and growth. Fortunately asbestos has been banned in most parts of the world, but what other dangers are our children, brothers and sisters exposed to?

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:

1. Thermal Comfort
2. Indoor Air Quality
3. Noise and Acoustics
4. Daylighting and Lighting

Thermal Comfort

What is thermal comfort?

It's a persons perception of comfort with respect to objective measures such as temperature, humidity and air velocity (hope that makes sense).

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?

1. 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).
2. Properly designed and placed windows help improve natural ventilation which can moderate the temperature and reduce energy needed for cooling and associated carbon emissions.
3. 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?

Someone one sent me a whatsapp video of how important it is to take a whiff of your spouses' fart, you get the picture right?

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?

1. Exposure to indoor VOCs has been linked to SBS symptoms in kids (remember formaldehyde).
2. 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
3. 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?

1. 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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