List of abbreviations

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

‘CIBSE - Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers

TM52 - The Limits of Thermal Comfort: Avoiding Overheating in European Buildings

BB101- Building Bulletin 101 formulated by the UK government is a document that gives guidance on thermal comfort, ventilation, and indoor air quality in schools.

Dfe- Department for Education Trm – Running Mean Temperature Top – Operative Temperature

CO2 – Carbon dioxide NO2 – Nitrogen Dioxide PM2.5 – Particulate Matter

ug/m3 – Micrograms per cubic meter ppm - Parts per million

Low-E – A measure of emissivity, the characteristic of a material to radiate thermal energy. Glass is typically highly emissive, warming indoor spaces. Low-E glass typically has a coating or other additive to reduce the heat transfer to inside spaces.

Passivhaus Standard: One of the most stringent voluntary standards for energy efficient buildings in the world. The requirements are defined by final energy consumption and airtightness

R-value: Like U-value, R-Value is a measurement of thermal performance. However, instead of measuring thermal conductivity (how easily heat passes through a material) it measures resistance to heat transfer. Some countries use R-value for their standards instead of U-value

Solar reflectance index (SRI): This index is a method to calculate the albedo of a material. In warm climates, materials with a high SRI number are suggested

Thermal mass: The property of a building that uses materials to absorb heat to buffer to changes in outside temperatures. Stone floors or wall have a high thermal mass. Wood walls have a low thermal mass.

Urban heat island (UHI): An urban area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day and is most apparent when winds are weak

U-value: This indicates the thermal transmittance of a property and indicates its thermal performance. U-value is the property of heat transmission in unit time through unit area of a building material or assembly and the boundary air films, induced by unit temperature difference, between the environments on each side. The lower the U-value of a material, the better its heat-insulating capacity.

Window-to-wall ratio (WWR): The ratio of glazing (windows, skylights, etc. divided by the total exterior wall area of a building. This is an important guideline because windows have a large impact on the energy needs of a building’ .