COCONUT SHELLS AND FIBERS AS AN ALTERNATIVE
INSULATED CLASSROOM CEILING
Background and Problem
The Philippines is currently experiencing a rapid increase in temperature. This
rising heat index affects people by having health problems. In addition, the power
consumption also adds to the burden of the power crisis of the world (Muralimanohar
et. al, 2017). As stressed by Arceo (2019), heat index is what people feel as the
temperature affecting the body. This is experienced by students and teachers inside
the school premises. According to the report of Philstar (2023), the online survey
conducted by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, around 67% or approximately
7,800 teachers have experienced intolerable heat inside the classroom. This resulted
in students' difficulty in paying attention to lessons.
School Buildings have a significant and continuously increasing impact on the
environment. The power consumption for comfortable classroom is ever increasing,
which is adding additional burden to the power crisis of the world. The main objective
of this project is to reduce the heat transfer through the building roof providing
thermal insulation, thereby reducing the heat load on the building.
Some of the current practices to control the increasing global temperatures
are planting trees and other vegetation because it lowers surface and air
temperatures by providing shade and cooling through evapotranspiration. Trees and
vegetation that directly shade your home can decrease the need for air conditioning,
making your home more comfortable and reducing your energy bill.
Beneficiaries
Students and Teachers. This study will help in reducing the heat felt by the
students and teachers. It will also decrease the number of students who are prone to
fainting due to the high heat index. Additionally, the burden to the teachers will also
lessen in terms of having a lecture with their class. In result, the students will also
pay attention to the class instead of complaining about heat.
Coconut Farmers. It is beneficial especially to the coconut farmers because
they will be the main suppliers for this study. The demand for coconuts will also
increase, as well as with the profit that they will gain.
Future Researchers. This study will help future researchers to open up to
different opinions and new ideas. It also builds discerning and analytical skills.
Proposed Solution
Our proposed solution for this problem is to use coconut shells and fibers as
an alternative insulated classroom ceiling because coconut fiber was found to be the
preferred insulator because it has the required attributes to maintain thermal comfort
and improve the energy efficiency of residential dwellings, it also shows that coconut
fiber was able to improve the energy efficiency of the envelope physical models. The
thermal conductivity of coconut shell composite was found to be in the range of 0.062
– 0.078 W/m K which is less than 0.1 W/m K. Thus, the coconut shell composite
using epoxy resin adhesive is also a good thermal insulator.
According to the study of Panyakaew (2011), their study describes the
production of low density thermal insulation boards made from coconut husk and
bagasse without the use of chemical binding additives. Dwelling in Thailand use
thermal insulation to reduce air conditioning loads; the aim of this study was to
develop a thermal insulation with lower environmental footprint than conventional
materials. The hot pressing method was used and this article reports on the effect of
board density and pressing conditions on the properties of the insulation boards.
Based on the study of Omar, et al. (2020) Roof thermal insulation is one of
the effective methods that can save cooling energy in places with an equatorial
climate especially in Malaysia. The use of recycled products or industrial waste
materials is now a potential trend in the industry. Therefore, natural fiber was chosen
as a material for the ceiling board in this study. During the day, heat can enter the
room from the roof so that insulation material is needed to reduce heat flux by
maintaining the temperature of the building. The problems faced by consumers are
cost increases due to the use of large amounts of electricity.
The usual thermal insulator for ceilings are not affordable because of its high
price. Hence, the researchers came up with coconut fiber and shells as an alternative
heat insulators in classrooms to be more cost beneficial to everyone, and to provide
efficient application of insulators that can be used in school establishments.
Method
We decided to carry out this project when we read about research on
the efficiency of coconut fiber as an insulator. To this day, glass fiber insulator has
been used widely in the development and industry sector. However, they are not
many manufacturers that produce ceiling insulator with organic materials. Therefore,
we took this initiative to create an insulator and test the effectiveness of coconut fiber
ceiling insulator. We also conceived that an improvement can be made in our project.
Hence, we create a model and separate it into two-spaced to test the effectiveness of
100% coconut fiber insulator and coconut fiber insulator which has been improved.
Materials
For this project, we try to use only recycled goods except the materials for the
insulator.
Apparatus:
1. used wood chair
2. roof metal deck
3. screws
4. infrared thermometer
5. solar meter
Materials:
1. coconut fibre
2. styrofoam
Procedure
1. Prepare all of the materials and apparatus. Refer the previous page for the list of
equipments.
2. Cut the coconut fibre into three pieces with same size.
3. Divide the area under the roof metal deck into two spaces.
4. Place two layers of coconut fibre (20 mm) in the first space.
5. Place a layer of coconut fibre (10 mm) and a layer of styrofoam (10 mm) in the
second space.
6. Place the roof metal deck which contain the coconut fibre and styrofoam
on top of the used wood chair.
RUNNING THE TEST
1. We let the model space exposed to the sun from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Every hour,
intensity of the sunlight is measured by using solar meter.
2. The top temperature of both two layers of coconut fiber and the combinationof
coconut fiber and styrofoam is measured by using infrared thermometer.
3. The bottom temperature of both two layers of coconut fiber and the
combination of coconut fiber and styrofoam is measured by using infrared
thermometer.
