Using Active Green Wall Systems for both Saving Energy and Improving Indoor Air Quality in Classrooms

¹ Associate Professor at Department of Civil Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand
² Ph.D. candidate at Department of Civil Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand

^* Corresponding author: wannawit@gmail.com

Abstract

University classrooms in Thailand normally use air conditioners to enhance thermal comfort for building occupants. Classrooms with many students are often found to exceed standard concentration levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂). This research aims to study the benefits of active green wall systems in two aspects. They are energy consumption and the ability to reduce CO₂ of plants. The green walls in this research are divided into two systems, which are active green wall (AGW) and passive green wall (PGW). The experiments took place in an air-conditioned classroom with ten occupants. The room temperature was set at 25 °C for all experiments. The data collected for all experiments are CO₂, temperature, and energy consumption. The results showed that two active green wall panels with a single plant of Epipremnum aureum is the optimal model for improving air quality in classrooms, when compared to other experiments. It can reduce the CO₂ concentration by 35% and use less energy than the no green wall experiment at 26%.