Evaluation of the Indoor Environment of Comfort Houses: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

Brunsgaard, Camilla; Heiselberg, Per; Knudstrup, Mary-Ann; Larsen, Tine Steen

doi:10.1177/1420326x11431739

Cited by 49 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…According to the regulations and assessment methods, a minimum DF of 2% is adequate for all indoor house spaces; in addition, illumination levels must be 50-300 lux for social spaces and 100 lux for bedrooms [21,29].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indoor Environmental Quality of Urban Residential Buildings in Cuenca—Ecuador: Comfort Standard

Molina

Yaguana

2018

Buildings

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A key factor for achieving healthy environments in residential buildings is the provision of high indoor environmental quality (IEQ) with respect to the acceptance by its occupants, based on levels of the physical parameters which contribute to IEQ. This research focuses on defining the comfort standards of indoor environments of urban dwellings in the city of Cuenca-Ecuador. It takes into account factors such as temperature, air quality, and natural lightning through a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative measurements. Results determined the following values: a comfort temperature (T n ) of 20.12 • C (with ranges from 16.62 • C to 23.62 • C for an acceptance of 80% and from 17.62 • C to 22.62 • C for an acceptance of 90%), a relative humidity between 40-65%, a maximum CO 2 concentration of 614.25 ppm, a day light factor of ≥5 for the social area and ≥4 for the bedroom, and a minimum illumination level of 300 lux. With these results, it was observed that the comfort levels of temperature, CO 2 concentration, and lighting accepted by local users differ from the standards established in local and international regulations. The determined data constitutes a methodological basis for carrying out similar processes in other localities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies related to indoor comfort have used a similar number of analysis units [3,21,22]. As for the typology and materiality of the dwellings, houses and apartments built with concrete structures and brick walls were chosen because, in the city, most people have houses with these characteristics.…”

Section: Dwellings Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indoor Environmental Quality of Urban Residential Buildings in Cuenca—Ecuador: Comfort Standard

Molina

Yaguana

2018

Buildings

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“…Generally, people spend more than 90% of their time in indoor environments and therefore, there is concern regarding indoor pollutants [1]. Nowadays, buildings are being constructed with significantly stricter leak tightness requirements, as demanded by Building Regulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adsorption Kinetics and Breakthrough of Carbon Dioxide for the Chemical Modified Activated Carbon Filter Used in the Building

Shiue

Chang

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:We studied different face velocity and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) initial concentration to examine the adsorption behavior of calcium oxide (CaO) impregnated activated carbon (AC) filter and also to discuss pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intra-particle diffusion three kinetic models. The experimental results show that saturation time and saturation capacity were decreased and increased with higher inlet concentration at the same face velocity, respectively. Simulation results show that pseudo-second-order correlation coefficient (r 2 2 = 0.921) is higher than pseudo-first-order (r 1 2 = 0.7815) and intra-particle diffusion (r i 2 = 0.905). Therefore, the adsorption process of CO 2 onto CaO impregnated AC filter media is appropriate for the pseudo-second-order kinetic model.

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“…The findings of 'The Comfort Houses' project 3 show challenges in fulfilling elements of the indoor environment, primarily due to problems with overheating during summer. The study also concludes that the design process needs to contain analysis of the indoor environment, besides the development of the design, to make sure the demands can be fulfilled.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Healthy Buildings’: Toward understanding user interaction with the indoor environment

Brunsgaard

Fich

2016

Indoor and Built Environment

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In recent years, research and the building industry have increasingly focused on issues regarding the lowering and optimising of operational energy use in buildings. This has resulted in several pilot projects illustrating how these can be achieved, e.g. Danish projects like 'The Comfort Houses' (some of the first Danish passive houses) 1 and 'Home for Life' (active/zero energy houses).2 Besides exemplifying construction techniques and technical service systems as well as documenting energy use, the mentioned projects were evaluated according to the resulting indoor environment, qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings of 'The Comfort Houses' project 3 show challenges in fulfilling elements of the indoor environment, primarily due to problems with overheating during summer. The study also concludes that the design process needs to contain analysis of the indoor environment, besides the development of the design, to make sure the demands can be fulfilled. The research further concludes that there should be more focus on occupants' lifestyle and behavioural traits when designing and planning passive and active systems, as the assumptions in many cases did not fit. In one case, for example, a family was concerned about their child's safety if opening windows sufficiently to allow cooling and therefore chose not to do so, with overheating as a result. Hence, user-friendly solutions should be important considerations to allow the 'correct' operation of systems while also considering realistic user behaviour.3 Similar findings appear in the research of 'Home for life '. 4 Overall, the project concludes that 50% of the altered preconditions are due to factors in the building, control and technology, and 50% are due to the family's behaviour that was at variance with the original estimations.4 With regard to the passive house requirements, the main focus is on energy use. However, the passive house standard includes an overall demand for thermal comfort.5 Nevertheless, this is analysed by using values of the monthly temperatures in the calculation method on the overall geometry of the building. An hour-by-hour dynamic simulation, or at least a simple check of the 24-hour maximum temperature for the critical rooms, would be a more reliable methodology to state the risks of overheating in the actual design. This methodology would also allow testing of different scenarios of user-behaviour and thereby test the robustness of the design. Unmistakably, the abovementioned research states that the user-behaviour and every day practices of the occupants are of major importance in the performance of the indoor environment -issues that are not sufficiently taken into account in today's practices.Along with the development of different low-energy and zero-energy concepts, voluntary sustainability certification schemes (BREEAM, LEED, DGNB) have been developed around the world -certification schemes that have a wider approach to sustainability than solely energy. However, the first-generation schemes still have a large focus ...

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Evaluation of the Indoor Environment of Comfort Houses: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

Cited by 49 publications

References 6 publications

Indoor Environmental Quality of Urban Residential Buildings in Cuenca—Ecuador: Comfort Standard

Indoor Environmental Quality of Urban Residential Buildings in Cuenca—Ecuador: Comfort Standard

Adsorption Kinetics and Breakthrough of Carbon Dioxide for the Chemical Modified Activated Carbon Filter Used in the Building

‘Healthy Buildings’: Toward understanding user interaction with the indoor environment

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