Air Conditioning

The learning environment has been proven to have a marked effect on classroom comfort, performance and behaviour. Recent studies suggest that over 75% of classrooms in the UK are affected and that pupil performance decreases by around 5% in classrooms at 25° and around 10% in classrooms at 30°. This is further compounded by the potential effects of heat and humidity on GCSE’s and SATS which both historically take place during the warmer months. It has always been the case that better schools attract better funding opportunities, and the link between the environment in the classroom and a successful school is well established.

Volumes of existing academic research conducted in warmer countries already supports this theory and air conditioning has become an essential component of modern classrooms. The UK’s traditional reputation for mild summer weather is being eroded as global warming brings regular Mediterranean temperatures to our schools during May and June. All the air conditioning units we supply now include WiFi adaptors at no extra charge, meaning the temperature can even be controlled in classrooms or offices via a mobile phone app.

Some of the main features of utilising air conditioning for cooling:

• Improves concentration and performance up to 10%
• Positively contributes to staff wellbeing
• Maintains a constant classroom temperature requiring no staff intervention
• Provides a predictable exam environment to maximise results
• Shown to reduce aggressive behaviour and agitation
• Can be installed for roughly half the cost of an interactive whiteboard
• Education warranties now 10 years on most standard systems

Air conditioning for heating
Using air conditioning for heating is now attracting a great deal of interest in academic circles. Traditional energy bills can be reduced by up to 80% offering huge financial savings to schools. These savings alone can allow a typical primary school to pay off the cost of a new system within 5 years.
In addition to financial savings, air conditioning also produces up to 75% less carbon dioxide than traditional electricity, oil or gas based heating systems. With environmental issues now permanently etched on education agendas this reduction in CO2 emissions represents a significant contribution to reducing global warming.
The rapid nature of air conditioning heating also allows much greater flexibility for premises management and the ability to reduce heating to non essential or spare rooms/offices not permanently in use. This increases efficiency, reduces costs and with features such as “App control” included as standard, this can be done literally be done from a smartphone.