Perception of the thermal environment in high school and university classrooms: Subjective preferences and thermal comfort

This work shows some of the results of a field study about environmental comfort investigations in classrooms. In this project thermal, acoustic, visual and air quality aspects were analysed in a number of classrooms—13 classrooms at four different high schools of the Provincia di Torino and four typical medium-sized university classrooms of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. The investigations were carried out during the heating period. Both field measurements and subjective surveys were performed at the same time during the regular lesson periods. This paper focuses on thermal comfort, which may have a significant effect on the students’ performance, in terms of attention, comprehension and learning levels. The measurement campaign consisted in measuring the thermal environment parameters—air temperature, mean radiant temperatures, air relative humidity and air velocity. Through these data, the thermal comfort Fanger’s indices (predicted mean vote (PMV), and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD)people) were calculated, the actual people clothing and metabolic rate being known. The subjective survey involved questions on the thermal environmental perception. They basically investigated the thermal environment acceptability and preference. Moreover, a judgement based on the typical seven point thermal sensation scale (Fanger 7- points scale) was also asked. Through the elaboration of the questionnaire data, the actual percentage of dissatisfied (PD) people of the felt thermal environment was evaluated. The judgements about the thermal environment were compared with the results of the field measurements. Moreover, the subjective mean votes were compared with the thermal environment perceptions in terms of acceptability and preference.