Measured and perceived indoor comfort versus energy efficiency and users‟ control in Luxembourg‟s new school buildings

Room climate can be evident for job productivity and individual ́s health. Its realisation is often of high relevance for the building ́s energy consumption e.g. air conditioning vs. natural ventilation. New school buildings in Luxembourg differ significantly regarding to energy consumption, heating, air-conditioning technology and technical control as well as interaction means given to the user. Several studies have shown that personal control plays an important role for the satisfaction with the room climate.
Central research question was, how the technological control has to be designed that energy is used efficiently and users are still satisfied with the room climate.
In this study technical features to control the room climate e.g. features for ventilation, opening windows and heating systems were summarized to an overall control factor to be compared with perceived control by the users. Physical room climate and its users ́ satisfaction level were measuredas well as the buildings ́ individual energy consumption levels were taken into account.
342 Teachers were asked by a standardised questionnaire during winter 2010/2011 in 31 new school buildings in Luxembourg, in 17 schools technical devices for air temperature, quality and humidity were installed.
The results show a strong correlation between perceived control and room climate satisfaction as well as a significant correlation between the technical control factor and perceived control. Further results will be examined.