Effects of thermal activated building systems in schools on thermal comfort in winter

There is a growing attention for the Indoor Air Quality problems in schools, but there is far less attention for the thermal comfort aspects within schools. A literature review is done to clear the effects of thermal quality in schools on the learning performance of the students: it clearly shows that thermal environment is like IAQ of great influence to the students' performance. As many studies focus on the ventilation aspects we focus more on the thermal comfort of the schools through measurements and questioners held in 14 schools equipped with different types of ventilation and heating systems. A new approach to design adequate thermal comfort solutions for school buildings was developed during the last years: Thermo Active Building Systems, which uses thermo activated concrete. In three new schools with Thermo Active Building Systems thermal comfort was determined through measurements and questionnaires and compared with that of 11 schools more traditional heating systems (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.