Papers by Munonye Charles Chetenna
Thermal conditions in classrooms influence the physical and social development and the overall we... more Thermal conditions in classrooms influence the physical and social development and the overall well-being of a student's life. Understanding the relationship between thermal conditions in classrooms and the perception of the thermal environments by the students will help in providing sustainable classroom blocks. This paper presents the results of a study relating to thermal comfort in three selected naturally-ventilated classroom schools located in the warm and humid climate of Imo State, Nigeria. The aim was to determine the perception of the thermal environment by young children aged 7-12 years in these classroom spaces. The investigation was carried out during the rainy and dry seasons where the environmental parameters in the surveyed classrooms were measured, together with simultaneous subjective assessment of the subjects through the use of questionnaires. Regression analysis was applied between the mean thermal responses of the children and the mean operative temperature...
International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
Over the years, the Federal and State Governments of Nigeria mounted ‘low-cost’ housing schemes t... more Over the years, the Federal and State Governments of Nigeria mounted ‘low-cost’ housing schemes that were expected to be affordable to the low income earners. By the time some of these schemes were completed they were priced beyond the reach of the low-income earners, and even that of the middle-income earners. Various research works that looked into the failure of the provision of the ‘low-cost’ housings in Nigeria found out that the reason for the failure are political interference and corruption. This paper overviewed the various building materials used in building construction and concluded that the objectives of providing housing affordable ‘low cost’ housing schemes in Nigeria can be achieved if local building materials such as Stabilized Compressed Earth Block (SCEB) is used in the construction. The paper concludes that if professionals in the building sector are given the free will to do their jobs, it will also enhance the objective of providing affordable ‘low cost’ houses.
The indoor environment of classrooms needs to be comfortable for the occupants to perform their c... more The indoor environment of classrooms needs to be comfortable for the occupants to perform their class work effectively. To achieve this objective, architects and engineers need to be proactive at the early design stage by considering the very component of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) building occupants consider most as the hindrance to comfortable living. This paper presents the findings of a post-occupancy evaluation of students’ subjective responses to the various environmental qualities; lighting, odour, noise/acoustics and heat/thermal comfort in warm humid university classrooms. The aim was to rank the IEQ on the scale of students’ consideration for a comfortable indoor classroom work. This was done using questionnaire to get the subjective response from the respondents. The work was conducted in two university classrooms while the students were engaged in various class activities. Valid responses were gotten from sixty-five students. The result suggests that majority of ...
International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology, 2020
Over the years, the Federal and State Governments of Nigeria mounted ‘low-cost’ housing schemes t... more Over the years, the Federal and State Governments of Nigeria mounted ‘low-cost’ housing schemes that were expected to be affordable to the low income earners. By the time some of these schemes were completed they were priced beyond the reach of the low-income earners, and even that of the middle-income earners. Various research works that looked into the failure of the provision of the ‘low-cost’ housings in Nigeria found out that the reason for the failure are political interference and corruption. This paper overviewed the various building materials used in building construction and concluded that the objectives of providing housing affordable ‘low cost’ housing schemes in Nigeria can be achieved if local building materials such as Stabilized Compressed Earth Block (SCEB) is used in the construction. The paper concludes that if professionals in the building sector are given the free will to do their jobs, it will also enhance the objective of providing affordable ‘low cost’ houses.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019
This study was inspired by an aspiration to examine the private housing developers commitment to ... more This study was inspired by an aspiration to examine the private housing developers commitment to design and construct estates in environments that have necessary facilities. The paper aims to assess the relative satisfaction level conveyed by the residents of private housing estates in Enugu, in the hope that the results would advance the design of such environments. The results of hypothesis tested show that environmental facilities have a significant effect on residents satisfaction. Analysis model of spearman rho correlation analysis showed a correlation coefficient value of 0.085 with a significance probability point of 0.023. This implies a weak relationship exists between the environmental facilities and residents satisfaction. Furthermore, the significance probability point of 0.023 shows it is significant. This finding shows that these environmental variables- mode of refuse disposal, state of roads within the estate, sanitization level, Recreation Park indeed represent the important factors that influence overall residents satisfaction. The paper concluded that by integrating the subjective assessments of the residents with developers/planners objective criteria, the shortcomings that produce dissatisfaction be annihilated. Residents satisfaction in private housing estates in the study area and future private housing projects, can be enhanced through the provision of environmental facilities and the facilities functioning well in the housing estates.
OALib, 2020
This study aims to examine the influence of seasonal variations of thermal variables on comfort t... more This study aims to examine the influence of seasonal variations of thermal variables on comfort temperature in schools in a warm and humid climate. Schoolchildren in Nigeria are engaged in in-class lessons in the two seasons experienced in the country. There have been concerns about whether seasonal variation in thermal variables can affect the thermal comfort of building occupants. To address this issue, data were collected from 180 healthy primary schoolchildren aged 7-12 years old. The research methodology consisted of measuring environmental variables, while questionnaires were applied to the children during the rainy season and dry season. The result shows some significant seasonal differences in the measured thermal variables and comfort temperature. The mean indoor temperature observed during the dry season was 29.1˚C while during the rainy season the mean value was 28.1˚C. The subjects found the indoor environment acceptable during the rainy season, while during the dry season it was found unacceptable. Furthermore, differences in neutral temperature and comfort range between seasons were observed. Architects and facility managers need to have information about thermal conditions in schools according to season. This is because primary schoolchildren are vulnerable, and exposing them to variations in indoor temperature may impact on their health and academic performance.
Over the years, the Federal and State Governments of Nigeria mounted 'low-cost' housing schemes t... more Over the years, the Federal and State Governments of Nigeria mounted 'low-cost' housing schemes that were expected to be affordable to the low income earners. By the time some of these schemes were completed they were priced beyond the reach of the low-income earners, and even that of the middle-income earners. Various research works that looked into the failure of the provision of the 'low-cost' housings in Nigeria found out that the reason for the failure are political interference and corruption. This paper overviewed the various building materials used in building construction and concluded that the objectives of providing housing affordable 'low cost' housing schemes in Nigeria can be achieved if local building materials such as Stabilized Compressed Earth Block (SCEB) is used in the construction. The paper concludes that if professionals in the building sector are given the free will to do their jobs, it will also enhance the objective of providing affordable 'low cost' houses.
PurposeThe paper aims to determine the thermal comfort perception of schoolchildren from a warm a... more PurposeThe paper aims to determine the thermal comfort perception of schoolchildren from a warm and humid environment. There is a concern about the effect of high temperature on the health and academic performance of schoolchildren.Design/methodology/approachObjective and subjective methodological approaches were adopted to collect data during the fieldwork in the selected primary schools. ASHRAE adaptive comfort model was adopted to analyze the data.FindingsThe paper provided empirical results about the comfort requirements of schoolchildren from the warm and humid environment. During the occupied school time, the studied schoolchildren were found to tolerate temperatures higher than the upper limit temperature recommended by ASHRAE Standard 55. The paper recommends that the studied children may not need any active ventilator to be thermally comfortable during the occupied school hoursOriginality/valueThe paper found the range of temperatures that schoolchildren from the warm and humid environment can adapt to. The information may be useful to architects, engineers and facility managers
Over the years, the Federal and State Governments of Nigeria mounted ‘low-cost’ housing schemes t... more Over the years, the Federal and State Governments of Nigeria mounted ‘low-cost’ housing schemes that were expected to be affordable to the low income earners. By the time some of these schemes were completed they were priced beyond the reach of the low-income earners, and even that of the middle-income earners. Various research works that looked into the failure of the provision of the ‘low-cost’ housings in Nigeria found out that the reason for the failure are political interference and corruption. This paper overviewed the various building materials used in building construction and concluded that the objectives of providing housing affordable ‘low cost’ housing schemes in Nigeria can be achieved if local building materials such as Stabilized Compressed Earth Block (SCEB) is used in the construction. The paper concludes that if professionals in the building sector are given the free will to do their jobs, it will also enhance the objective of providing affordable ‘low cost’ houses.
Building Services Engineering Research and Technology
Field study was conducted in naturally ventilated primary school buildings in a warm and humid en... more Field study was conducted in naturally ventilated primary school buildings in a warm and humid environment in Imo State, Nigeria to determine the thermal comfort perception of young children (aged 7–12 years) and to understand the thermal conditions in the classrooms. The comfort temperature was investigated in two types of classroom buildings during the rainy and dry seasons from October 2017 to May 2018. Approximately 7050 completed valid questionnaires were collected from 330 young children repeatedly surveyed twice a day. The children answered comfort questions at the same time the indoor and outdoor thermal variables were being measured. Results indicated that the combined ‘open-space’ classrooms produced a neutral temperature of 28.8°C with comfort range, 25.2–32.3°C. The neutral temperature of the combined ‘enclosed-plan’ classrooms is 28.1°C with 25.8–30.5°C as the comfort range. The differences in the comfort perceptions may be attributed to the differences in the architect...
Thermal conditions in classrooms influence the physical and social development and the overall we... more Thermal conditions in classrooms influence the physical and social development and the overall well-being of a student's life. Understanding the relationship between thermal conditions in classrooms and the perception of the thermal environments by the students will help in providing sustainable classroom blocks. This paper presents the results of a study relating to thermal comfort in three selected naturally-ventilated classroom schools located in the warm and humid climate of Imo State, Nigeria. The aim was to determine the perception of the thermal environment by young children aged 7-12 years in these classroom spaces. The investigation was carried out during the rainy and dry seasons where the environmental parameters in the surveyed classrooms were measured, together with simultaneous subjective assessment of the subjects through the use of questionnaires. Regression analysis was applied between the mean thermal responses of the children and the mean operative temperatures to determine their optimum temperature, the preferred temperature, and their comfort range. Results indicate that the subjects accepted the indoor thermal environments beyond the range specified by the International standards such as ASHRAE and ISO. For the combined classrooms all season, the optimum temperature obtained for the young children was 28.8oC with a preferred temperature of 27.4 oC and comfort range of 25.8-31.6oC. The findings in this paper may add value to the thermal comfort data base and also provide useful input in the provision of classroom blocks that are sustainable.
This study was inspired by an aspiration to examine the private housing developers' commitment to... more This study was inspired by an aspiration to examine the private housing developers' commitment to design and construct estates in environments that have necessary facilities. The paper aims to assess the relative satisfaction level conveyed by the residents of private housing estates in Enugu, in the hope that the results would advance the design of such environments. The results of hypothesis tested show that environmental facilities have a significant effect on residents' satisfaction. Analysis model of spearman rho correlation analysis showed a correlation coefficient value of 0.085 with a significance probability point of 0.023. This implies a weak relationship exists between the environmental facilities and residents' satisfaction. Furthermore, the significance probability point of 0.023 shows it is significant. This finding shows that these environmental variables-mode of refuse disposal, state of roads within the estate, sanitization level, Recreation Park indeed represent the important factors that influence overall residents' satisfaction. The paper concluded that by integrating the subjective assessments of the residents with developers/planner's objective criteria, the shortcomings that produce dissatisfaction be annihilated. Residents' satisfaction in private housing estates in the study area and future private housing projects, can be enhanced through the provision of environmental facilities and the facilities functioning well in the housing estates.
The indoor environment of classrooms needs to be comfortable for the occupants to perform their c... more The indoor environment of classrooms needs to be comfortable for the occupants to perform their class work effectively. To achieve this objective, architects and engineers need to be proactive at the early design stage by considering the very component of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) building occupants consider most as the hindrance to comfortable living. This paper presents the findings of a post-occupancy evaluation of students' subjective responses to the various environmental qualities; lighting, odour, noise/acoustics and heat/thermal comfort in warm humid university classrooms. The aim was to rank the IEQ on the scale of students' consideration for a comfortable indoor classroom work. This was done using questionnaires to get the subjective response from the respondents. The work was conducted in two university classrooms while the students were engaged in various class activities. Sixty-five students participated in the study. The result suggests that majority of occupants (62%) rated thermal comfort number one as the component of the IEQ that usually gives them the most concern, while 71% of the respondents rated ''preference to sit beside windows''. This result is consistent with earlier studies on IEQ attributes conducted in other climatic zones in Nigeria and will be helpful to designers, engineers, facility maintenance managers when taking decisions in constructing sustainable classroom blocks.
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Papers by Munonye Charles Chetenna