HIEQ LAB: A NOVEL FULL-SCALE FACILITY WITH OCCUPANTS TO INVESTIGATE INTEGRATIVE LIGHTING AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE IN A MULTI-DOMAIN APPROACH

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Giovannini ◽  
V.R.M. Lo Verso ◽  
F. Favoino ◽  
V. Serra ◽  
A. Pellegrino
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Real Space ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Building Components ◽  
Lighting Systems ◽  
And Control

The new HIEQ Lab (Health, well-being and Indoor Environmental Quality Laboratory) is presented. It is a living lab, primarily intended for research on human performance, comfort, and well-being, integrated with the energy performance in a completely controlled real space. Users are involved as active players in controlling and assessing building components and design strategies for health, well-being and IEQ requirements. Experimental activities will be addressed through a multi-domain approach that combines lighting, acoustic, air quality and thermal issues. For what concerns lighting, the laboratory is conceived to study the performance of daylighting and electric lighting systems and control solutions, focusing on the relationship between lighting conditions and human performance, comfort, and well-being. The paper reports the results of a literature review on existing lighting research facilities, and then describes the features of the new HIEQ Lab and its main research objectives, with a focus on lighting and daylighting research opportunities.

scholarly journals Experimental and numerical analysis of indoor environmental conditions in two physiotherapy facilities in Northern Italy

2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 02067 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Zaniboni ◽  
Giovanni Pernigotto ◽  
Andrea Gasparella ◽  
Ardeshir Mahdavi
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Long Term Conditions ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Lighting Systems ◽  
Radiant Temperature

The comfort conditions are fundamental for the well-being of the occupants of a building. The design of both building envelope and HVAC and lighting systems has primarily to keep high quality levels of indoor comfort conditions. This is particularly true for healthcare facilities, where a comfortable environment can mean both a faster healing of the patients and a higher productivity rate of the employees. In this research, a comfort survey is carried out in two physiotherapy facilities in Bolzano, Italy. Long- and short-term measurements of air temperature and relative humidity and short-term measurements of mean radiant temperature, air velocity, illuminance, CO2 and CO concentrations are taken in the environments where the therapies are performed, from summer to autumn of the year 2018. The long-term conditions are monitored using HOBO sensors, with a 10-minute recording timestep, and installed approximately at the height of 1 m, to evaluate the conditions at the same level at which the therapies are performed. A Delta-Ohm HD32.1 microclimatic station with several probes is employed in similar positions for short term monitoring periods. During the whole survey, according to their availability, employees and patients are asked to assess thermal, light, acoustic comfort and air quality by means of questionnaires, developed starting from standards and previous works in literature. In details, anonymous questions are asked to collect data about personal conditions (sex, age, weight, height, clothing level, self-evaluation of the health status), comfort evaluations (seven points scale questions), type of detected discomfort issues (multiple-choice questions), date, time and room where the treatment is performed. Thanks to the data measured at the same times of the questionnaires’ answers, Fanger’s comfort indexes are calculated according to the technical standard EN ISO 7730 and compared with the real votes collected using the questionnaires. The results, together with a previous analysis made in Vienna in 2015, give good suggestions about the diagnosis of the indoor environmental quality and the control of the HVAC systems in this kind of facilities.

scholarly journals A Wireless Gas Sensor Network to Monitor Indoor Environmental Quality in Schools

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 4345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro Ortiz Perez ◽  
Benedikt Bierer ◽  
Louisa Scholz ◽  
Jürgen Wöllenstein ◽  
Stefan Palzer
Keyword(s):  
Sensor Network ◽  
Gas Sensor ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sensor Nodes ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
And Control

Schools are amongst the most densely occupied indoor areas and at the same time children and young adults are the most vulnerable group with respect to adverse health effects as a result of poor environmental conditions. Health, performance and well-being of pupils crucially depend on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of which air quality and thermal comfort are central pillars. This makes the monitoring and control of environmental parameters in classes important. At the same time most school buildings do neither feature automated, intelligent heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems nor suitable IEQ monitoring systems. In this contribution, we therefore investigate the capabilities of a novel wireless gas sensor network to determine carbon dioxide concentrations, along with temperature and humidity. The use of a photoacoustic detector enables the construction of long-term stable, miniaturized, LED-based non-dispersive infrared absorption spectrometers without the use of a reference channel. The data of the sensor nodes is transmitted via a Z-Wave protocol to a central gateway, which in turn sends the data to a web-based platform for online analysis. The results show that it is difficult to maintain adequate IEQ levels in class rooms even when ventilating frequently and that individual monitoring and control of rooms is necessary to combine energy savings and good IEQ.

scholarly journals Bridging the gap: The need for a systems thinking approach in understanding and addressing energy and environmental performance in buildings

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Shrubsole ◽  
I. G. Hamilton ◽  
N. Zimmermann ◽  
G. Papachristos ◽  
T. Broyd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Performance ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Health And Well Being

Innovations in materials, construction techniques and technologies in building construction and refurbishment aim to reduce carbon emissions and produce low-energy buildings. However, in-use performance consistently misses design specifications, particularly those of operational energy use and indoor environmental quality. This performance gap risks reducing design, technology, sustainability, economic, health and well-being benefits. In this paper, we compare settings of the Chinese and the UK buildings sectors and relate their historical context, design, construction and operation issues impacting energy performance, indoor environmental quality, occupant health and well-being. We identify a series of key, common factors of ‘total’ building performance across these two settings: the application of building regulations, the balance between building cost and performance, skills, construction and operation. The dynamic and complex interactions of these factors are currently poorly understood and lead to building performance gaps. We contend that a systems approach in the development of suitable building assessment methods, technologies and tools could enable the formulation and implementation of more effective policies, regulations and practices. The paper illustrates the application of the approach to the UK and Chinese settings. A full application of a systems approach may help to provide a more dynamic understanding of how factor interactions impact the ‘total’ building performance gaps and help address its multiple causes.

scholarly journals Evaluation results of combined labelling of dwellings located in different countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 13002
Author(s):  
Zoltan Magyar ◽  
Gabor Nemeth ◽  
Peter op‘t Veld ◽  
Simona D’Oca ◽  
Ana Sanchis Huertas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Labelling Process ◽  
Labelling Scheme

In the TripleA-reno project, a new combined labelling scheme was developed for dwellings. The combined labelling includes the evaluation of the energy performance, indoor environmental quality and well-being of occupants in dwellings. In this paper, the method of the TripleA-reno combined labelling scheme, the necessary calculations and measurements and the labelling process are introduced. In the TripleA-reno project, the developed combined labelling was successfully applied to different demonstration cases. The main results and experiences of the combined labelling for four demonstration cases located in Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy are presented.

A positive psychology study and intervention on the well-being of French PhD students in biology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Marais ◽  
Rebecca Shankland ◽  
Pascale Haag ◽  
Robin Fiault ◽  
Bridget Juniper
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Reference Sample ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Attrition Rates ◽  
Human Costs ◽  
The Uk ◽  
And Control ◽  
Health And Well Being

In France, little data are available on mental health and well-being in academia, and nothing has been published about PhD students. From studies abroad, we know that doing a PhD is a difficult experience resulting in high attrition rates with significant financial and human costs. Here we focused on PhD students in biology at university Lyon 1. A first study aimed at measuring the mental health and well-being of PhD students using several generalist and PhD-specific tools. Our results on 136 participants showed that a large fraction of the PhD students experience abnormal levels of stress, depression and anxiety, and their mean well-being score is significantly lower than that of a British reference sample. French PhD student well-being is specifically affected by career uncertainty, perceived lack of progress in the PhD and perceived lack of competence, which points towards possible cultural differences of experiencing a PhD in France and the UK. In a second study, we carried out a positive psychology intervention. Comparing the scores of the test and control groups showed a clear effect of the intervention on reducing anxiety. We discuss our results and the possible future steps to improve French PhD students’ well-being.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document