Maslow in the Mud: Contrast between qualitative and quantitative assessment of thermal performance in historic buildings.

This paper argues that the notion of comfort is first and foremost re-lated to subjective choices and individual value systems. The article presents re-sults from research on the perception and measurements of the thermal qualities of heritage buildings in Lincolnshire, UK. The qualitative and quantitative re-sults identified a strong contrast between different methodologies. Inhabitants describe as comfortable houses which would not be considered comfortable if a standard positivist approach was used. The conflict presented will be dis-cussed in the context of sustainable strategies in architecture

Green occupants for green buildings

Thesis by publication."A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy""June 2012"Bibliography: pages 203-225.1. Introduction -- 2. Literature review -- 3. Methods -- 4. Results and discussion -- 5. Conclusions -- Appendices.Given contemporaneous concerns of climate change and increasing fossil fuel prices, architects and building designers are exploring mixed-mode (MM) ventilation as a way of combining the best features of air-conditioned (AC) and naturally-ventilated (NV) buildings. MM or ‘hybrid’ buildings utilise a ‘free-running’ NV mode whenever outdoor weather conditions are considered favourable, but revert to mechanical systems for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning when external conditions are deemed less favourable for occupants. This thesis explores how occupant expectations and environmental attitudes may influence thermal comfort and occupant satisfaction within the context of the indoor thermal environment. In doing so, it evaluates the potential for climate change mitigation in NV and MM buildings through occupant behavioural adaptations. Two academic office buildings with different ventilation strategies (i.e. MM and NV) from a university in Sydney, Australia were used as case studies for this research. Post-occupancy evaluations (POEs) supplemented with the 15-item New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) questionnaire, measuring strength of endorsement (from low to high) of an ecological worldview, were conducted in both buildings to examine how environmental attitudes caninfluence occupants’ tolerance of the indoor environmental performance of green buildings. Parallel thermal comfort studies, along with continuous indoor and outdoor climate measurements, were also conducted to investigate the differences in occupant satisfaction and comfort perceptions between each building and between the POE and comfort questionnaires.The POE ‘forgiveness factor’ attempts to quantify the users’ tolerance of a building’s environmental conditions by taking into account the user’s scores for thermal, acoustic and visual comfort. This study found a possible association between environmental beliefs and occupants’ forgiveness factor, which suggests that despite having less-than-ideal thermal conditions, occupants with higher NEP scores were more tolerant of their building’s shortcomings compared to occupants with lower NEP scores. Analyses of subjects’ thermal sensation within the MM building indicated that observed comfort votes (Actual Mean Vote – AMV) measured in AC mode were congruent to those predicted using the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) equation. During NV mode, however, observed AMV values did not conform to the PMV values, suggesting that occupants were more adaptive to indoor operative temperatures during NV mode as opposed to when the building was in AC mode. In comparison, whilst occupants experienced significantly warmer operative temperatures in the NV building, observed thermal sensations were also found to differ from the predicted values, suggesting adaptive behaviours of the occupants. Thermal satisfaction and acceptability, along with participant comments and anecdotal evidence from each building, were analysed to investigate the effectiveness of POE methods in evaluating building performance. Results from this study suggest occupants can and do use POE as a vehicle for complaint about general workplace issues, unrelated to their building. This thesis underscores the importance of occupant expectations and attitudes within the indoor thermal environment. Each study highlights significant differences between occupants’ thermal responses under different indoor environmental conditions, suggesting people’s environmental attitudes and expectations affect their perception of comfort and satisfaction within MM and NV buildings. Furthermore, the complexity of thermal perception and the inadequacy of static models to describe occupant comfort in MM buildings are discussed in the context of whether such design approaches fall within the scope of international adaptive comfort standards. This research provides evidence to support extending the psychological dimensions of thermal comfort and building performance studies to account for the contextual influences at play in green buildings, such as environmental attitudes, expectations and personal control.Mode of access: World Wide Web.1 online resource (xxvi, 297 pages) illustrations (chiefly colour), map

Green occupants for green buildings : the missing link?

Green buildings, often defined as those featuring natural ventilation capabilities, i.e. low-energy or free-running buildings, are now at the forefront of building research and climate change mitigation scenarios. This paper follows the results of recent post-occupancy evaluation (POE) surveys within two academic office buildings located in sub-tropical Sydney, Australia. Supplemented with an environmental attitudes questionnaire, based upon the New Ecological Paradigm [1]), it was found that occupant satisfaction levels on the POE were positively associated with environmental beliefs. Occupants with higher levels of environmental concern were more forgiving of their building, particularly those featuring aspects of green design, such as natural ventilation through operable windows. Despite their criticisms of the building’s indoor environmental quality, the ‘green’ occupants were prepared to overlook and forgive less-than-ideal conditions more so than their ‘brown’ (non-green) counterparts. These results support the hypothesis that pro-environmental attitudes are closely associated with the stronger ‘forgiveness factor’ often observed in green buildings, but the question of causality remains moot.7 page(s

Is it hot in here or is it just me? Validating the post-occupancy evaluation

Historically, post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was developed to evaluate actual building performance, providing feedback for architects and building managers to potentially improve the quality and operation of the building. Whilst useful in gathering information based on user satisfaction, POE studies have typically lacked contextual information, continued feedback and physical measurements of the building's indoor climate. They, therefore, sometimes over-exaggerate poor building performance. POEs conducted in two academic office buildings: a mixed-mode (MM) and a naturally ventilated (NV) building located within a university in Sydney, Australia, suggest high levels of occupant dissatisfaction, especially in the MM building. In order to test the validity of the POE results, parallel thermal comfort studies were conducted to investigate the differences in occupant satisfaction and comfort perceptions between these two questionnaires. Instrumental measurements of each building's indoor environment reveal that occupants tended to over-exaggerate their POE comfort responses. Analysis of thermal satisfaction and acceptability in each building indicate that occupants of the NV building were more tolerant of their thermal environment despite experiencing significantly warmer temperatures than their MM counterparts. In discussing these results, along with participant comments and anecdotal evidence from each building, this article contends that POE does not accurately evaluate building performance, suggesting occupants can and do use POE as a vehicle for complaint about general workplace issues, unrelated to their building. In providing a critical review of current POE methods, this article aims to provide recommendations as to how they can be improved, encouraging a more holistic approach to building performance evaluation.23 page(s

Mixed-mode buildings : a double standard in occupants' comfort expectations

This paper investigates how mixed-mode (MM) ventilation affects occupant comfort by presenting results from a longitudinal field study within an academic office building from a tertiary educational institution in sub-tropical Sydney, Australia. The building automatically switches into air-conditioned (AC) mode whenever indoor temperatures exceed 25 °C. Coincident indoor and outdoor climate measurements along with 1359 subjective comfort questionnaires were collected. Thermal sensations during natural ventilation did not conform to those predicted using Fanger's PMV-PPD [1]. Differences in thermal perception were also apparent between these two modes. Within AC mode, a PMV = +1 environment elicited much 'warmer-than-neutral' thermal sensations than the same PMV = +1 environment within naturally-ventilated (NV) mode, suggesting thermal subjective perceptions were affected by the building's mode of operation over and above the objective indoor climatic conditions. These discrepancies emphasize the complexity of thermal perception and the inadequacy of using PMV models to describe occupant comfort in MM buildings. ASHRAE's Standard 55 [2] currently classifies MM buildings as AC buildings, and as such, limits the operation of these buildings to the more restrictive PMV-PPD range of indoor thermal conditions. In contrast, EN15251 [3] permits the more flexible adaptive comfort standard to be applied to buildings operating under NV mode. Results from this study favour EN15251's application of the adaptive comfort model instead of PMV-PPD to MM buildings when they are operating in NV mode.8 page(s

Development of the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II

Recognizing the value of open-source research databases in advancing the art and science of HVAC, in 2014 the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II project was launched under the leadership of University of California at Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment and The University of Sydney’s Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Laboratory. The exercise began with a systematic collection and harmonization of raw data from the last two decades of thermal comfort field studies around the world. The ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II (Comfort Database), now an online, open-source database, includes approximately 81,846 complete sets of objective indoor climatic observations with accompanying “right-here-right-now” subjective evaluations by the building occupants who were exposed to them. The database is intended to support diverse inquiries about thermal comfort in field settings. A simple web-based interface to the database enables filtering on multiple criteria, including building typology, occupancy type, subjects’ demographic variables, subjective thermal comfort states, indoor thermal environmental criteria, calculated comfort indices, environmental control criteria and outdoor meteorological information. Furthermore, a web-based interactive thermal comfort visualization tool has been developed that allows end-users to quickly and interactively explore the data

Development of the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II

Recognizing the value of open-source research databases in advancing the art and science of HVAC, in 2014 the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II project was launched under the leadership of University of California at Berkeley's Center for the Built Environment and The University of Sydney's Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Laboratory. The exercise began with a systematic collection and harmonization of raw data from the last two decades of thermal comfort field studies around the world. The ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II (Comfort Database), now an online, open-source database, includes approximately 81,846 complete sets of objective indoor climatic observations with accompanying “right-here-right-now” subjective evaluations by the building occupants who were exposed to them. The database is intended to support diverse inquiries about thermal comfort in field settings. A simple web-based interface to the database enables filtering on multiple criteria, including building typology, occupancy type, subjects' demographic variables, subjective thermal comfort states, indoor thermal environmental criteria, calculated comfort indices, environmental control criteria and outdoor meteorological information. Furthermore, a web-based interactive thermal comfort visualization tool has been developed that allows end-users to quickly and interactively explore the data

Development of the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II

Recognizing the value of open-source research databases in advancing the art and science of HVAC, in 2014 the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II project was launched under the leadership of University of California at Berkeley's Center for the Built Environment and The University of Sydney's Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Laboratory. The exercise began with a systematic collection and harmonization of raw data from the last two decades of thermal comfort field studies around the world. The ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II (Comfort Database), now an online, open-source database, includes approximately 81,846 complete sets of objective indoor climatic observations with accompanying “right-here-right-now” subjective evaluations by the building occupants who were exposed to them. The database is intended to support diverse inquiries about thermal comfort in field settings. A simple web-based interface to the database enables filtering on multiple criteria, including building typology, occupancy type, subjects' demographic variables, subjective thermal comfort states, indoor thermal environmental criteria, calculated comfort indices, environmental control criteria and outdoor meteorological information. Furthermore, a web-based interactive thermal comfort visualization tool has been developed that allows end-users to quickly and interactively explore the data.</p