Meta-analysis of indoor temperatures in new-build housing

McGill, Grainne; Sharpe, Tim; Robertson, Lynette; Gupta, Rajat; Mawditt, Ian

doi:10.1080/09613218.2016.1226610

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…Climate change is not only associated with rising outdoor temperatures, but also increases in the air temperature of the indoor environment (i.e., buildings, houses) [ 13 ], particularly during prolonged periods of hot weather (e.g., heat waves) [ 14 ]. Factors such as modern building design and insulation (buildings being more air tight, more efficient window designs, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards establishing evidence-based guidelines on maximum indoor temperatures during hot weather in temperate continental climates

et al. 2018

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Rising environmental temperatures represent a major threat to human health. The activation of heat advisories using evidence-based thresholds for high-risk outdoor ambient temperatures have been shown to be an effective strategy to save lives during hot weather. However, although the relationship between weather and human health has been widely defined by outdoor temperature, corresponding increases in indoor temperature during heat events can also be harmful to health especially in vulnerable populations. In this review, we discuss our current understanding of the relationship between outdoor temperature and human health and examine how human health can also be adversely influenced by high indoor temperatures during heat events. Our assessment of the existing literature revealed a high degree of variability in what can be considered an acceptable indoor temperature because there are differences in how different groups of people may respond physiologically and behaviorally to the same living environment. Finally, we demonstrate that both non-physiological (e.g., geographical location, urban density, building design) and physiological (e.g., sex, age, fitness, state of health) factors must be considered when defining an indoor temperature threshold for preserving human health in a warming global climate.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards establishing evidence-based guidelines on maximum indoor temperatures during hot weather in temperate continental climates

et al. 2018

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“…For example, some post occupancy research has suggested that overheating risk is exacerbated by increases in insulation levels and air tightness. 8,[16][17][18][19] At the same time, counter examples exist: lack of roof insulation is a common cause of overheating in older properties 7 and in the European heatwave of 2003 this omission was specifically identified as a risk factor for overheating. 20 The Building Performance Evaluation project of 76 homes drew inconclusive results as to whether homes with higher insulation levels were more at risk: individual instances of overheating were found but robust conclusions could not be drawn.…”

Section: Building Design and Overheating Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, some post occupancy research has suggested that overheating risk is exacerbated by increases in insulation levels and air tightness. 8,16–19…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overheating risk in Passivhaus dwellings

Mitchell¹,

Natarajan²

2019

Building Services Engineering Research and Technology

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Highly insulated and airtight homes designed to reduce energy consumption are perceived as having a greater summer overheating risk than less insulated homes. If true, dwellings built to the well-known low-energy Passivhaus (PH) standard could be at greatest risk due to the use of superinsulation, especially as the climate warms. Existing studies are inconclusive and even contradictory, mainly due to small sample sizes. Hence, this paper presents the first large-scale overheating risk analysis of UK Passivhaus dwellings using high-resolution internal temperature data from 82 homes across the UK. Both the Passivhaus and the recently published Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers TM59 criteria are analysed. Results show that the whole-dwelling Passivhaus standard, which uses a fixed temperature threshold, is met more frequently (83%) than when applied on a room-by-room basis (e.g. only 60% of bedrooms in houses meet the standard). TM59-1A, which uses an adaptive temperature threshold, is easier to meet with 100% of flats and 82% of houses in compliance. However, 55% of bedrooms assessed under TM59-1B fail, with little difference between flats and houses. This is a remarkable finding given that the summers under consideration were either typically mild or cooler than average, and that sleep impairment can significantly affect both physical and mental health. These results suggest that highly insulated dwellings such as Passivhaus should consider overheating in individual rooms, rather than at whole-dwelling level. Analysis should be undertaken throughout the year with particular attention to bedrooms, using either the good-practice PH-5% exceedance threshold which maps well to TM59-1B, or TM59-1B itself. Practical application: Overheating risk in new dwellings is an industry concern. Having the correct tools to predict this risk at design stage is important to help design comfortable and healthy dwellings for both today's climate and future, hotter climates. Comparing two different tools and their methodologies using in-use data is critical to gain confidence in their application at the design stage and to further understand overheating risk, including which dwelling types and rooms are more vulnerable to overheating.

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“…In a recent review Wang et al (2017) document the breadth of work that analyses the energy performance of PH but bemoan the lack of studies that investigate energy efficiency and IEQ in the same. Some comprehensive and prolonged studies have documented indoor temperature profiles in PH homes, while also reporting on CO2 and humidity levels (McGill et al 2017) and have also documented overheating which is a growing concern in today's, and future, climates. Low energy housing, characterised by high levels of insulation and airtightness are particularly susceptible to overheating (Kinnane et al 2016b), and low energy housing in the UK with MVHR exhibit higher minimum and average summertime temperatures (McGill et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some comprehensive and prolonged studies have documented indoor temperature profiles in PH homes, while also reporting on CO2 and humidity levels (McGill et al 2017) and have also documented overheating which is a growing concern in today's, and future, climates. Low energy housing, characterised by high levels of insulation and airtightness are particularly susceptible to overheating (Kinnane et al 2016b), and low energy housing in the UK with MVHR exhibit higher minimum and average summertime temperatures (McGill et al 2017). Similarly overheating has been reported in a number of other PH studies in southern (Fokaides et al 2016) and northwestern European climates (McLeod et al, 2013, Colclough et al, 2017b.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%