In March of 1996, a new Elementary School was occupied which is the first in the United States to utilize the concept of displacement ventilation as the primary means of providing both good indoor air quality and thermal comfort. In addition, the integrated "sustainable" design concepts of the facility also address other important factors including: siting, programming, lighting, acoustics, energy efficiency, classroom computer usage, and access for planned HV AC preventive maintenance.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (lllIER) involving schools provide a perspective on the building-related factors associated with indoor air quality complaints. Generally, the school lffiERs reflected multiple building factors associated with the complaints.
The purpose of the study was to assess actual ventilation, indoor air quality and also the quality of repairing process in the Finnish schools. The measurements that included ventilation rate, co2 and particle concentrations, and temperature and humidity in the classrooms were carried out in 20 schools. Repairing of schools were studied on the basis of 32 schools. The typical needs for repairing HY AC-systems and building structures and also typical repairing measures and faults were reported. The most common problem was the classrooms' old-fashioned or even missing ventilation devices.
The CO2, H2O and CO content of the indoor and outdoor air in the four libraries of the University of La Coruiia (Spain) was monitored for 48 hours. For this a multipoint monitoring system was used, based on the infra-red photo-acoustic spectroscopy technique. This allowed us to identify the conditions of air renovation of indoor air with natural ventilation. Although good outdoors air quality was observed, the indoor air quality, on the other hand, was seem to deteriorate considerable during the periods of occupation.
Mechanical ventilation systems, designed to meet ASHRAE's Standard 62-1989 and to modify building pressures, were installed in two New Mexico elementary schools to reduce elevated levels of indoor radon, carbon dioxide, and airborne particles. Although the systems did not meet design conditions for outdoor air delivery, ventilation rates were increased by factors of 2 to 4 over pre-existing natural ventilation rates, and levels of indoor air pollutants were significantly reduced.
The subject of this study was the indoor air quality of schools with natural ventilation in La Coruna (Spain). We took as reference the C02 H2O and CO contents of both the indoor and outdoor air. In both cases the monitoring was carried out over a 48 hour period using a photoacoustic infra-red spectroscopy multi-gas monitor. The outdoor air quality was seen to be good.
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