Analysis of Window-Opening Patterns and Air Conditioning Usage of Urban Residences in Tropical Southeast Asia

Abstract

Window-opening is one of the most important adaptive behaviours affecting indoor thermal comfort as well as household energy consumption in the tropics. In this study, large-scale surveys were conducted in major cities of Malaysia and Indonesia to extract various typical daily patterns of window-opening, air conditioning (AC) usage and fan usage among occupants in the tropics through a data mining approach based on a cluster analysis. Furthermore, influential factors for window-opening patterns, focusing especially on contextual factors and household attributes, were determined through a logistic regression analysis. As a result, several typical daily patterns of window-opening, AC usage and fan usage were extracted, respectively, even under the same hot-humid climate. It was found that household size, age of respondent, household income and concerns about insects were the most influential factors for daily window-opening patterns. The results of this study will fill the existing knowledge gap in driving factors of occupant behaviour in the tropics in which few studies have been conducted.

A Survey of Energy-Use Behaviour in Apartment Buildings in East and West Malaysia

“…The lowest usages are from morning until late afternoon, before increasing gradually from 7.00 pm until midnight. This data supports [29] and [30] findings that AC usages in Malaysia are significantly higher during nighttime. In conclusion, fan usages are higher than AC usage, with an average of 48.9% and 21.75%, respectively, to indicate that simple mechanical cooling aid is still a priority or preference for the occupants.…”

Optimization of Heat Gain in Vertical Housing Design for Middle Low Economy, Cengkareng-Jakarta Barat

“…This is a challenge in itself where the thermal environmental conditions will affect the thermal in the building. So that all year round with a certain design can optimize passive cooling: natural ventilation to provide comfortable indoor environmental conditions [11].…”

“…Because the largest gain of solar radiation (heat gain) is obtained from horizontal radiation. The heat gain will affect thermal comfort and energy use [11]. The increasing density and limited land give the idea of the redevelopment of middle-low economy housing from horizontal to vertical housing [12].…”

Review of Window Performance in A Hot and Humid Climate

“…The window-to-wall ratio was investigated in a total of 518 simulated window configurations (Marino et al, 2017), while the fenestration system (Mousa et al, 2017), window area luminance (Amirkhani et al, 2018), indoor-outdoor air movement comparison (Wahab et al, 2018), window configuration on energy performance (Altun & Kiliç, 2019), residential energy usage (Mori et al, 2020), and thermal investigation (Koohsari & Heidari, 2020) were studied in relation to various window opening types. These studies involved field measurements (Wahab et al, 2018), surveys (Mori et al, 2020), and computer simulations (Marino et al, 2017;Mousa et al, 2017;Amirkhani et al, 2018;Altun & Kiliç, 2019).…”

“…The window-to-wall ratio was investigated in a total of 518 simulated window configurations (Marino et al, 2017), while the fenestration system (Mousa et al, 2017), window area luminance (Amirkhani et al, 2018), indoor-outdoor air movement comparison (Wahab et al, 2018), window configuration on energy performance (Altun & Kiliç, 2019), residential energy usage (Mori et al, 2020), and thermal investigation (Koohsari & Heidari, 2020) were studied in relation to various window opening types. These studies involved field measurements (Wahab et al, 2018), surveys (Mori et al, 2020), and computer simulations (Marino et al, 2017;Mousa et al, 2017;Amirkhani et al, 2018;Altun & Kiliç, 2019). One study on energy-saving windows ignored the window type utilised (Bayoumi, 2017), while two studies on natural ventilation in a hot and humid climate focused on defining the perfect window design by various attributions adapted (Hwang & Lee, 2018) and producing a guidance tool for windowmakers focusing on the adaptation procedures related to cost, product quality, and the indoor environment (Arranz et al, 2018).…”