The use of adaptive thermal comfort models to evaluate the summer performance of a Mediterranean earth building

Abstract

In Europe and worldwide a broad range of legislations are adopting comfort models that include the variability of occupants behaviour based on the variability of external climate conditions. The latest adaptive comfort methods consider outdoor temperature not only as a steady variable but also as the representation of occupants past thermal history. The paper here presented deals with a summer environmental monitoring carried out in a Sardinian earth building. These traditional houses are very often without HVAC systems and the control of summer conditions is based mainly on natural ventilation. So they are very interesting case-study to test adaptive comfort assessment. Different models are investigated, some included in current technical standards, some other still experimental. The results show firstly the capability of the case-study to provide comfort conditions. Moreover the differences among the different models adopted are highlighted and the consistence of different results that can occur is stressed