Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China
Over 70% of a pupil’s school life is spent inside a classroom, and indoor air quality has a significant impact on students’ attendance and learning potential. Therefore, the indoor air quality in primary school buildings is highly important. This empirical study investigates the indoor air quality i...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44457/ |
| _version_ | 1848796920006311936 |
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| author | Peng, Zhen Deng, Wu Tenorio, Rosangela |
| author_facet | Peng, Zhen Deng, Wu Tenorio, Rosangela |
| author_sort | Peng, Zhen |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Over 70% of a pupil’s school life is spent inside a classroom, and indoor air quality has a significant impact on students’ attendance and learning potential. Therefore, the indoor air quality in primary school buildings is highly important. This empirical study investigates the indoor air quality in four naturally ventilated schools in China, with a focus on four parameters: PM2.5, PM10, CO2, and temperature. The correlations between the indoor air quality and the ambient air pollution, building defects, and occupants’ activities have been identified and discussed. The results indicate that building defects and occupants’ activities have a significant impact on indoor air quality. Buildings with better air tightness have a relatively smaller ratio of indoor particulate matter (PM) concentrations to outdoor PM concentrations when unoccupied. During occupied periods, the indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratio could be larger than 1 due to internal students’ activities. The indoor air temperature in winter is mainly determined by occupants’ activities and the adiabatic ability of a building’s fabrics. CO2 can easily exceed 1000 ppm on average due to the closing of windows and doors to keep the inside air warmer in winter. It is concluded that improving air tightness might be a way of reducing outdoor air pollutants’ penetration in naturally ventilated school buildings. Mechanical ventilation with air purification could be also an option on severely polluted days. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:55:38Z |
| format | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-44457 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:55:38Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-444572021-08-25T02:30:28Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44457/ Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China Peng, Zhen Deng, Wu Tenorio, Rosangela Over 70% of a pupil’s school life is spent inside a classroom, and indoor air quality has a significant impact on students’ attendance and learning potential. Therefore, the indoor air quality in primary school buildings is highly important. This empirical study investigates the indoor air quality in four naturally ventilated schools in China, with a focus on four parameters: PM2.5, PM10, CO2, and temperature. The correlations between the indoor air quality and the ambient air pollution, building defects, and occupants’ activities have been identified and discussed. The results indicate that building defects and occupants’ activities have a significant impact on indoor air quality. Buildings with better air tightness have a relatively smaller ratio of indoor particulate matter (PM) concentrations to outdoor PM concentrations when unoccupied. During occupied periods, the indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratio could be larger than 1 due to internal students’ activities. The indoor air temperature in winter is mainly determined by occupants’ activities and the adiabatic ability of a building’s fabrics. CO2 can easily exceed 1000 ppm on average due to the closing of windows and doors to keep the inside air warmer in winter. It is concluded that improving air tightness might be a way of reducing outdoor air pollutants’ penetration in naturally ventilated school buildings. Mechanical ventilation with air purification could be also an option on severely polluted days. MDPI AG 2017-07-05 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) PeerReviewed Peng, Zhen, Deng, Wu and Tenorio, Rosangela (2017) Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China. UNSPECIFIED thesis, University of Nottingham. indoor air quality; primary school; building air tightness; internal activities; air pollutants https://doi.org/10.3390/su9071180 doi:10.3390/su9071180 doi:10.3390/su9071180 |
| spellingShingle | indoor air quality; primary school; building air tightness; internal activities; air pollutants Peng, Zhen Deng, Wu Tenorio, Rosangela Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China |
| title | Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China |
| title_full | Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China |
| title_fullStr | Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China |
| title_short | Investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the North of China |
| title_sort | investigation of indoor air qality and the identification of influential factors at primary schools in the north of china |
| topic | indoor air quality; primary school; building air tightness; internal activities; air pollutants |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44457/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44457/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44457/ |