Temperature profiles of private rental housing occupied by third level students in Ireland

Abstract

The Irish Government published a National Student Accommodation Strategy to tackle issues surrounding the availability of accommodation for students in higher education. 23,634 students could not be accommodated with a bed space supplied by a Higher Education Institution in 2017. Therefore, many students live in private rental accommodation during the academic year. This paper examines the indoor temperature profiles of private rental housing occupied by third level students in Ireland. From the results, the temperature levels across the majority of the 16 cases were found to have temperatures below the recommended 18°C. At least 90% of the recorded temperature data during February for all but three of the cases was less than 18°C, highlighting the poor indoor temperature levels that the students were living in. While the sample size of this study is small and more research needs to be carried out on this topic in the future, the data suggests more accommodation needs to be provided for people in higher education that allows them to achieve indoor temperature levels within recommended guidelines.