Barbosa, E.F.T.; Labaki, L.C.; Castro, A.P.A.S.; Lopes, F.S.D. Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort Analysis in a Higher Education Building in Brazil. Sustainability 2024, 16, 462, doi:10.3390/su16010462.
Barbosa, E.F.T.; Labaki, L.C.; Castro, A.P.A.S.; Lopes, F.S.D. Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort Analysis in a Higher Education Building in Brazil. Sustainability 2024, 16, 462, doi:10.3390/su16010462.
Barbosa, E.F.T.; Labaki, L.C.; Castro, A.P.A.S.; Lopes, F.S.D. Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort Analysis in a Higher Education Building in Brazil. Sustainability 2024, 16, 462, doi:10.3390/su16010462.
Barbosa, E.F.T.; Labaki, L.C.; Castro, A.P.A.S.; Lopes, F.S.D. Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort Analysis in a Higher Education Building in Brazil. Sustainability 2024, 16, 462, doi:10.3390/su16010462.
Abstract
Thermal comfort is extremely important in architecture, especially in environments with more people spending longer on studies or intellectual activities. This research describes a case study to investigate university buildings' energy and thermal performance as a part of the ANEEL program. Due to this importance, and the need to save energy in Brazilian public buildings, the ANEEL-the Brazilian Energy Electricity Regulatory Agency, launched 2016 a national program focusing on energy efficiency in public universities around the country. University offices and classrooms require high intellectual effort; thus, environmental comfort is critical for maintaining its users' physical and mental health. This study included a pre-diagnosis of the performance of the envelope, lighting, and air conditioning systems and a survey about the quality of the environments from the users' point of view. The Prescriptive Method of the Brazilian Labeling Program (PBE) for Commercial, Service, and Public Buildings (RTQ-C) assessed the building performance. Statistical analysis was applied to correlate the quality and thermal preference of the users from the PMV/PPD. The results showed a high rate of thermal discomfort in both environments of the studies, even when using air conditioning.
Keywords
Brazilian labelling regulation; energy efficiency; thermal comfort; university buildings.
Subject
Engineering, Architecture, Building and Construction
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
This manuscript describes very relevant issues related to university building management: energy efficiency and thermal comfort. The case study encompasses measurement data collection and analysis undertaken in a national research university in Brazil, UNICAMP, where a user's thermal perception survey included students and university staff.
According to the manuscript results, the survey results, and the energy efficiency labeling score of several university buildings, the performance is below the expected levels that could provide a better environment to foster students learning in the classroom. Also, the energy efficiency level of several buildings should be improved. Hopefully, these results can contribute to the university administration's ability to allocate resources and initiatives to achieve such improvements. Of course, this is not a drawback of only this university since it occurs in many countries with warm climates. Unfortunately, climate change can exacerbate this problem.
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Commenter:
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
According to the manuscript results, the survey results, and the energy efficiency labeling score of several university buildings, the performance is below the expected levels that could provide a better environment to foster students learning in the classroom. Also, the energy efficiency level of several buildings should be improved. Hopefully, these results can contribute to the university administration's ability to allocate resources and initiatives to achieve such improvements. Of course, this is not a drawback of only this university since it occurs in many countries with warm climates. Unfortunately, climate change can exacerbate this problem.