Editorial: Healthy and energy efficient buildings

Abstract

Editorial on the Research Topic Healthy and energy efficient buildingsThe built environment has a significant impact on human health. The extent of the impact of buildings on human health and the environment depends on different environmental factors. The extent of the impact of buildings on human health and the environment depends on the design, materials and methods used for construction and operation (Altomonte, 2019;Awada et al., 2022;López et al., 2023). It is increasingly important to design healthy buildings in the pursuit of sustainable development, where not only the occupants play an important role in ensuring indoor air quality through their habits, but also current developments related to interior finishes with low chemical emissions and good fungal resistance (Rupp et al., 2015;Loftness et al., 2007).Recent research has shown that people contract COVID-19 through airborne transmission indoors, especially in poorly ventilated environments (Domínguez-amarillo et al., 2020). It is therefore necessary to maintain optimal air quality to eradicate the virus spread. This requires innovative changes to existing indoor and outdoor infrastructure to positively influence occupants even in the most densely populated spaces (Karagulian et al., 2015). This is also a challenge to traditional residential and public building construction in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic (López et al., 2023).Because as previously stated, people spend most of their time inside buildings and, therefore, a healthy and comfortable indoor environment is essential for human beings. Indoor environmental quality encompasses the four environmental conditions (thermal, air quality, visual and acoustic) within the building (Serrano-Jiménez et al., 2020;González-Lezcano, 2023). Humans have strived to control their built environments in which they can feel comfortable. The use of adaptive actions by occupants, such as opening windows or doors, using blinds, and using fans, substantially influences the indoor environment. Naturally ventilated or free-running buildings provide many adaptive opportunities for occupants to improve their built environment by utilizing natural airflows (Kumar et al., 2016). Opening windows helps in comfortable ventilation of air, distribution of fresh air and extracts overheated and polluted air from the interior space (Kaasalainen et al., 2020). Recently developed research (Sansaniwal et al., 2021a) showed that the adaptive actions of the occupant were governed primarily by the search for comfort and were based primarily on the change in the indoor rather than the outdoor environment and that the behavioral patterns of the occupants can be used to simulate the environment built in buildings with natural ventilation.

CFD simulation study and experimental analysis of indoor air stratification in an unventilated classroom: A case study in Spain

“…The pressure p and the velocity components u, v, w are the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations, while the temperature T is solved through the heat equation. Conjugate heat transfer was simulated by imposing [ 18 ] the following set of equations: where is the varying density (compressible flow), is the dynamic viscosity, is the thermal conductivity, F is the buoyancy force. The hydrodynamic and temperature fields were required inputs to estimate concentrations of the n diluted species by imposing following equations: …”

“…Conventional building energy models predominantly concentrate on energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness, potentially neglecting other parameters that could not only facilitate a reduction in consumption but also enhance the quality of life for occupants. In the context of indoor air quality, these traditional models have primarily focused on temperature, humidity, and particulates, often underestimating the role of CO 2 [ 18 ]. The importance of CO 2 in indoor air quality is multifaceted.…”