Influence of Adaptive Comfort Models on Energy Improvement for Housing in Cold Areas

Abstract

Abstract:The evaluation of construction standards using adaptive thermal comfort models has a great impact on energy consumption. The analysis of a user's climate adaptation must be one of the first steps in the search for nearly/net Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB). The goal of this work is to analyze the standards recommended by the Chile's Construction with Sustainability Criteria for the building of housing, applying the ASHRAE 55-2017 and EN 15251:2007 adaptive comfort models in social housing. The study produces concrete recommendations associated with construction strategies, to increase the number of hours the user finds themselves with acceptable thermal comfort levels, without repercussions for energy consumption. Sixteen parametric series were evaluated with a dynamic simulation of the most common prototype of social housing in the Bio-Bio Region. The study shows that thermal comfort conditions can be increased through a combination of improvement measures compared to the ECCS standard (Construction Standards with Sustainability Criteria): 27.52% in the case of applying EN 15251:2007 and 24.04% in the case of ASHRAE 55-2017.

Integrated Analysis of Energy Saving and Thermal Comfort of Retrofits in Social Housing under Climate Change Influence in Uruguay

“…Both analyses present little variation of the total demand and total time in comfort between scenarios, although a variation in their composition is confirmed. As a result of the temperature increase expected in future scenarios, the base case dwelling will experience an increase of 2.0 MWh/year in the cooling demand and an average increase of discomfort from heat of 800 hours, just as occurs in other similar studies [13,22].…”

“…The effectiveness of these measures is determined by the intensity of use and both the current and future thermal comfort demands [22]. The measures generally focus on reducing the demand, but also generate positive impacts on living conditions, especially where there are economic difficulties in accessing energy [23].…”

A comprehensive review on green buildings research: bibliometric analysis during 1998–2018

“…For existing and new buildings, rational use of windows and shading structures can enhance the ambient conditions of buildings (Mcleod et al 2013 ). It was found that redesigning windows could reduce the air temperature by 2.5% (Elshafei et al 2017 ), thus improving thermal comfort through passive features and reducing the use of active air conditioners (Perez-Fargallo et al 2018 ). The monitoring of air conditioners’ performance could also prevent overheating of buildings (Ruellan and Park 2016 ).…”

Advanced Innovative Solutions for Final Design in Terms of Energy Sustainability of Nearly/Net Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB)

“…The other four articles applied and compared different common international standards related to energy and comfort performance indices [32][33][34][35]. Y. Kim et al [32] calculated energy requirements that satisfied the insulation standards, for each of the Korean regional climate conditions, of the Building Energy Conservation Code (BECC), a standard of mandatory energy-related minimum requirements to specify mandatory and energy performance indices of energy-saving design.…”

“…They compared the thermal comfort measurement method based on the ISO-Fanger model with the actual comfort results obtained by the panelists in the experimental building of the Małopolska Laboratory of Energy Efficient Building in Cracow, Poland. Pérez-Fargallo et al [35] analyzed the standards recommended by Chile's Construction with Sustainability Criteria for the building of housing, in a social housing prototype located in the region of the Bio-Bio and analyzed under two international standards-the ASHRAE 55-2017 and the EN 15251:2007 adaptive comfort models-and one national standard, the Chilean ECCS. Results in numerical terms can be different depending on the standard, but all of them will point in the same direction.…”