In 2020 the residential sector witnessed a complete transformation of the way people live and occupy the spaces. Indeed, different Countries introduced total lockdowns as a measure to contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19, forcing people to stay at home. These measures impact the indoor hygrothermal environment: higher internal thermal loads and moisture generation rate may create the perfect situation to support mould growth. This project aims to understand the impacts of increased work-from-home practices on the hygrothermal performance of residential buildings. The assessment uses a two-step methodology: firstly, whole building transient simulations (software trnsys) are used to generate the indoor temperature and humidity profiles, secondly hygrothermal transient simulations (software WUFI) are used to quantify the risk of mould growth. This research reveals the inadequacy of current design and construction practices to support flexible occupation patterns.
Building simulations rely on fixed assumptions and mathematical models to describe a specific building scenario, overlooking the building occupants' component. Almost 40% of in-home energy use is due occupants interacts with the building systems. The goal of this paper is to understand the magnitude of the performance gap when applied to two case studies in a Mediterranean climate. A set of scenarios are simulated assuming both a typical building usage and possible variations given by the users' interactions with shading, ventilation and cooling systems. Results show that the magnitude of the effects with a negative impact is bigger if compared to actions that might have a positive influence, this means that simulated results with standard usage assumptions are not an average of the possible effects but they reflect an optimistic outcome given by the optimal equipment usage.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.