INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS & SCHOOL DESIGN

Australian schools do not meet international best-practise standards for construction and renovation materials. Flooring, paints, glues and particle board emit VOCs into indoor air.

see: US EPAs IAQ design for schools program - http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schooldesign/

Recent research has shown a 23% improved reading and learning ability in environmentally conscious, good airqualtiy schools.

Indoor Environmental Quality in California Schools: Critical Needs
There is evidence that many schools in California have serious indoor environmental quality problems, which are causing health concerns in students and staff, reducing teaching and learning effectiveness, and draining resources away from the schools' core functions.

This report was prepared by a committee of the California Interagency Working Group on Indoor Air Quality (CIWG-IAQ). Its goal was to evaluate the current status and critical needs of California schools' facilities with respect to indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The report presents a review of available information and a set of recommendations and proposals aimed at policy-makers and public school administrators for initiating corrective change and developing measures to prevent IEQ problems in California schools. The report addresses IEQ in schools generally, but contains a section on portable (relocatable) classrooms. http://www.ewg.org/reports/readingwritingrisk/classroomair.html

Indoor environmental quality
Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is an integral aspect of high performance school construction. Good IEQ can reduce student and teacher absences, increase student performance, reduce illnesses related to indoor toxins, and improve teacher retention rates. IEQ includes indoor air quality (IAQ), acoustics, daylighting and lighting quality, and thermal comfort. These factors will help reduce distractions, improve comfort levels, and keep students, teachers and staff healthy.
All aspects of IEQ react and interact with each other as well as with other aspects of high performance school construction. Siting issues will affect daylighting potentials and acoustics. Building envelope design will affect thermal comfort, daylighting, and indoor air quality. Materials choices will affect all aspects of IEQ. The construction process and the operations and maintenance will also affect IAQ. To optimize good IEQ in schools, it is important to consider it throughout the design and construction process. http://www.sustainableschools.dgs.ca.gov/SustainableSchools/sustainabledesign/ieq/ieq.html

http://allergies.about.com/b/a/028154.htm
September 27, 2003
ASHRAE Studies Impact of IAQ on Classroom Performance
Is it possible that Johnny can't read because Johnny can't breathe? Upper respiratory tract infections account for most short-term absenteeism in schools, while allergy, asthma and symptoms of sick building syndrome contribute to longer absences. Appropriate classroom design and operation can reduce symptom severity and incidence of complaints among children, according to published data.

"Improving classroom ventilation can thus be expected to reduce the incidence of such symptoms and therefore reduce absenteeism, increasing school performance," said David Wyon, Ph.D. Research to determine whether indoor air quality conditions in classrooms are negatively impacting children's health and their performance in school is being conducted by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE).

Information courtesy of:
Dominique Hes
Manager Sustainable Building Program
Centre for Design at RMIT
GPO box 2476V
Melbourne, Victoria
3001 Australia
Ph +61 (0)3 99251915
Fax +61 (0)3 96393412

FURTHER WEB RESOURCES
http://www.cfd.rmit.edu.au | http://buildlca.rmit.edu.au | http://auslcanet.rmit.edu.au