JAUE2022-074: Research on Indoor Environment and Energy Consumption in Classrooms

Abstract

Ventilation is important as a measure against COVID-19, which is still prevalent today. Some elementary and junior high schools do not have ventilation facilities and only open windows, requiring the operation of air conditioning and heating in parallel with window ventilation. As a result, there are concerns about the impact on the health of children and students and increased energy consumption, making the balance between indoor thermal environment, ventilation, and energy conservation important. Therefore, this study investigated ventilation measures and heating and cooling usage in current school operations and analyzed energy consumption in two districts in Tokyo. We also measured the thermal environment and carbon dioxide concentration after the COVID19 epidemic in three schools with different ventilation systems and compared and verified the effectiveness of the ventilation systems. The results of the survey revealed that about half of the older schools did not have ventilation systems and used air conditioning more frequently. In schools without ventilation systems, it is difficult to achieve a balance between ventilation when windows are opened and the thermal environment in the classroom. Regarding energy consumption, it was found that the increase in gas consumption was mainly noticeable.