Improvement of heat environment of a gymnasium designed for dance lessons

Nowadays,we experience severe hot climate during summer.Ambient temperature and wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) in our gymnasium designed for dance lessons exceeded exposure limits of both school health and industrial health. Such environment was our direct concern for risk of heat related disorders among students, guests and staffs using the facility. The building was old, and heat insulation seemed to be insufficient compared to recent standards for the building of the same kind. Introduction of a new air conditioning system to the facility was supposed to be avoided according to energy conservation policy. We considered that applying high-albedo paint to the roof would reflex the solar infrared irradiation and block the heat influx, thus lowering the ambient temperature inside the gymnasium. The renovation of the roof resulted in improved ambient temperature and WBGT. We concluded that application of high-albedo paint might be a useful technique to control high ambient temperature in similar buildings and to reduce risk of heat related disorders.

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