IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i18p9712-d635969.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Practical Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort in Kindergartens. A Case Study of Slovenia

Author

Listed:
  • Vesna Lovec

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, Smetanova ulica 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

  • Miroslav Premrov

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, Smetanova ulica 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

  • Vesna Žegarac Leskovar

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, Smetanova ulica 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

Abstract

The experimental monitoring of carbon dioxide concentration was carried out in kindergartens in Slovenia, together with indoor air temperature and relative humidity, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the research was to estimate the practical impact of the pandemic on indoor air quality and thermal comfort. The case study sample included buildings with different architectural typology, which are predominantly present in the building stock of Slovenia. The monitoring process lasted for 125 days before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results have shown a better indoor air quality in kindergartens during the pandemic, mostly due to ventilation protocols and almost imperceptibly changed indoor air temperature. The COVID-19 pandemic affected air quality in kindergarten classrooms in Slovenia by reducing the average carbon dioxide concentration when children were present in classrooms by 30%.

Suggested Citation

  • Vesna Lovec & Miroslav Premrov & Vesna Žegarac Leskovar, 2021. "Practical Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort in Kindergartens. A Case Study of Slovenia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-14, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9712-:d:635969
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9712/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9712/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alicia Alonso & Jesús Llanos & Rocío Escandón & Juan J. Sendra, 2021. "Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort of Primary Schools in Winter in a Mediterranean Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Daniela Debone & Mariana V. da Costa & Simone G. E. K. Miraglia, 2020. "90 Days of COVID-19 Social Distancing and Its Impacts on Air Quality and Health in Sao Paulo, Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Laurentiu Predescu & Daniel Dunea, 2021. "Performance Evaluation of Particulate Matter and Indoor Microclimate Monitors in University Classrooms under COVID-19 Restrictions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-19, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brett Munckton & Priyadarsini Rajagopalan, 2024. "Interaction between Thermal Conditions and Ventilation in Kindergartens in Melbourne, Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Chih-Pei Hu & Jen-Hsiung Cheng, 2022. "Challenges and Actions of IAQ under COVID-19: A Survey of Taiwanese People’s Perception of Epidemic Prevention and Indoor Places Certification," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-19, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muhammad Jawad Sajid & Ernesto D. R. Santibanez Gonzalez, 2021. "The Impact of Direct and Indirect COVID-19 Related Demand Shocks on Sectoral CO 2 Emissions: Evidence from Major Asia Pacific Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Tomasz Wołowiec & Iuliia Myroshnychenko & Ihor Vakulenko & Sylwester Bogacki & Anna Maria Wiśniewska & Svitlana Kolosok & Vitaliy Yunger, 2022. "International Impact of COVID-19 on Energy Economics and Environmental Pollution: A Scoping Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-26, November.
    3. Vesna Lovec & Miroslav Premrov & Vesna Žegarac Leskovar, 2020. "Is There Any Relation between the Architectural Characteristics of Kindergartens and the Spread of the New Coronavirus in Them?—A Case Study of Slovenia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Michele Zinzi & Francesca Pagliaro & Stefano Agnoli & Fabio Bisegna & Domenico Iatauro, 2021. "On the Built-Environment Quality in Nearly Zero-Energy Renovated Schools: Assessment and Impact of Passive Strategies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    5. Ewa Zender-Świercz & Marek Telejko & Beata Galiszewska & Mariola Starzomska, 2022. "Assessment of Thermal Comfort in Rooms Equipped with a Decentralised Façade Ventilation Unit," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-16, September.
    6. Erkan Celik & Muhammet Gul, 2022. "How Covid-19 pandemic and partial lockdown decisions affect air quality of a city? The case of Istanbul, Turkey," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 1616-1654, February.
    7. Dariel López-López & Antonio Serrano-Jiménez & Juan Gavilanes & Ferran Ventura-Blanch & Ángela Barrios-Padura & Carmen Díaz-López, 2023. "A Study on the Parametric Design Parameters That Influence Environmental Ergonomics and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-30, April.
    8. Francisco M. Baena-Moreno & Isabel Malico & Isabel Paula Marques, 2021. "Promoting Sustainability: Wastewater Treatment Plants as a Source of Biomethane in Regions Far from a High-Pressure Grid. A Real Portuguese Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-17, August.
    9. Derick David Quintino & Heloisa Lee Burnquist & Paulo Jorge Silveira Ferreira, 2021. "Carbon Emissions and Brazilian Ethanol Prices: Are They Correlated? An Econophysics Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-18, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9712-:d:635969. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.