Improving air filter efficiency as a strategy to reduce children’s exposure to traffic related air pollutants in energy-efficient classrooms

This study was organised to quantify the effect of upgrading the filter efficiency in balance ventilation systems on indoor exposure to traffic-related air pollution, in 4 primary school classrooms. The standard air filters (EU F7) were compared with more efficient EU F9, and with F7+active carbon filters. Particulate matter (PM), ultrafine particles (UFP), black carbon (BC), PM2.5, organic/elemental carbon in PM2.5 (EC/OC), and NO2 were quantified, air tightness and air supply rates were assessed and pupils’ indoor comfort was surveyed. Analysis of indoor air as function of outdoor air and filter type indicated a significant but small reduction of indoor levels when upgrading the filter, except for PM10, TSP and UFP. The indoor comfort survey indicated a small but significant and positive effect as well

Evidence base prioritisation of indoor comfort perceptions in Malaysian typical multi-storey hostels

This study focuses on assessing the effects of the indoor climate in typical multi-storey hostels in Malaysia on student occupants through objective, subjective and evidence based prioritisation measurements. The objective measurements consisted of operative temperature; daylight ratio; luminance and indoor noise level. The subjective measurements were sampled from the student occupants' thermal, visual, acoustics and overall indoor comfort votes. The prioritisation measurement using Multiple Linear Regression and Friedman Tests assessed the relationship between physical indoor thermal, visual and acoustics conditions and students' overall indoor comfort perception vote. Findings suggest that subjective sensor ratings were significantly more reliable than objective measurements at predicting overall indoor comfort. Moreover, students living in hostel rooms with projected balconies voted that they were more satisfied with their indoor condition than the ones living in rooms without projected balconies. The results of this study also provide evidence that student occupants were more concerned with their rooms' thermal condition then followed by acoustics and finally visual conditions

Introduction

The focus of this study is to contribute towards both the above-mentioned directions of research. The first aim is to test the sensitivity of the parameters that affect energy consumption and comfort in the residential built environment in a theoretical basis. The second aim is to investigate if it would be possible, with the help of a sensor rich environment, to validate both prevailing models for indoor comfort, the PMV and adaptive model, and explore the dynamics between occupancy behavior, indoor comfort and energy consumption in the built environment. Sensor rich environments in the residential sector are not present yet in large scale; therefore, this study investigates a small, but still significant, sample of dwellings. The aim is not to achieve representativeness for the complete residential building sector but to research if the methodology of using sensors to gather quantitative and subjective data (related to thermal comfort, occupancy behavior, and energy consumption) is promising enough and could lead to potential energy savings without compromising the indoor comfort of occupants

Energy savings in building restoration - an applicative case

Italy has a historical and architectural heritage which consists mainly of buildings built in different historical period. These buildings are today characterized by some aspects of functional distribution and comfort, which need rehabilitation. This is related to the change thinking on a more comfortable distribution of spaces, and improving the sustainability of buildings. These issues have spurred the study of methods to improve the distribution of spaces, the performance of indoor comfort and the energy efficiency in the full respect of materiality and aesthetics of the building. Therefore, the aim of this rehabilitation is improving the indoor comfort, the energy efficiency and the environmental performance of existing buildings, but it is also to choose more carefully the most environmentally sustainable materials for the restructuring. In this work, a case study of rehabilitation of a historical school building sited in the city of Palermo in Italy is reported

Evaluation on overheating risk of a typical Norwegian residential building under future extreme weather conditions

As the temperature in the summer period in Norway has been always moderate, little study on the indoor comfort of typical Norwegian residential buildings in summer seasons can be found. Heat waves have attacked Norway in recent years, including in 2018 and 2019. Zero energy buildings, even neighborhoods, have been a hot research topic in Norway. There is overheating risk in typical Norwegian residential buildings without cooling devices installed under these uncommon weather conditions, like the hot summers in 2018 and 2019. Three weather scenarios consisting of present-day weather data, 2050 weather data, and 2080 weather data are investigated in this study. The overheating risk of a typical Norwegian residential building is evaluated under these three weather scenarios. 72 scenarios are simulated in this study, including different orientations, window-to-wall ratios, and infiltration rates. Two different overheating evaluation criteria and guidelines, the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) and the CIBSE TM 59, are compared in this study

Learning occupants’ indoor comfort temperature through a Bayesian inference approach for office buildings in United States

A carefully chosen indoor comfort temperature as the thermostat set-point is the key to optimizing building energy use and occupants’ comfort and well-being. ASHRAE Standard 55 or ISO Standard 7730 uses the PMV-PPD model or the adaptive comfort model that is based on small-sized or outdated sample data, which raises questions on whether and how ranges of occupant thermal comfort temperature should be revised using more recent larger-sized dataset. In this paper, a Bayesian inference approach has been used to derive new occupant comfort temperature ranges for U.S. office buildings using the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database. Bayesian inference can express uncertainty and incorporate prior knowledge. The comfort temperatures were found to be higher and less variable at cooling mode than at heating mode, and with significant overlapped variation ranges between the two modes. The comfort operative temperature of occupants varies between 21.9 and 25.4 °C for the cooling mode with a median of 23.7 °C, and between 20.5 and 24.9 °C for the heating mode with a median of 22.7 °C. These comfort temperature ranges are similar to the current ASHRAE standard 55 in the heating mode but 2–3 °C lower in the cooling mode. The results of this study could be adopted as more realistic thermostat set-points in building design, operation, control optimization, energy performance analysis, and policymaking

Assessing the indoor comfort and carbon dioxide concentration in high-rise residential buildings in Kuala Lumpur : the people's housing programme

The government of Malaysia has an ongoing People's Housing Programme (PPR) to construct one million affordable housing units across the country. It is trying to address the problem of squatters and housing woes of the low-income population, especially in densely populated areas. The first-generation design samples of these high-rise PPR are now being superseded by a new design for the second-generation of the construction of such buildings. After the occupation of the buildings, the users have generally installed air conditioned units, which indicates that the original design process of the buildings had not taken into consideration the environmental issues and the subsequent indoor comfort and air quality of the units. The main objective of this research is to investigate the actual indoor comfort and carbon dioxide level which could be found at three different zones in both PPR generations. The results for the first-generation of PPR showed that the average operative temperature at the different levels of the buildings surpass the CIBSE Guide A, ASHRAE Standard 55-2010 and Malaysian Standard 1525:2014 limits. For the second-generation, the gradually increasing operative temperature profile for the unobstructed facing zone has resulted from the gradient wind profile in the urban areas. The eddies and recirculation regions of the wind movement at the obstructed facing zone had reduced operative temperature at intermediate part of the building and the weaker stack effect happened in the enclosed facing zone decreased the operative temperature at higher part of the buildings. The outcomes of the research intend to inform future design of these buildings, so that they achieve indoor comfort and air quality for the occupants as well as the subsequent reduction in consumption of energy and resources

Impact of Climate Change: Environmental Assessment of Passive Solutions in a Single-Family Home in Southern Spain

According to the IPCC Climate Change projections by 2050 temperatures in southern Spain will have increased noticeably during the summer. Housing—in its current form—will not be able to provide a suitable response to this new climate scenario, and will in turn prompt an increase in cooling energy consumption and a series of problems relating to health and comfort. The Design Builder simulation tool was used to quantify the impact of this future climate scenario on energy demand, as well as its effect under free-running conditions on indoor temperature. Different passive conditioning strategies were evaluated to establish their influence on the indoor comfort conditions. The case study examined a theoretical single-family residential unit model in order to establish guidelines for the pre-selection of the most suitable passive solutions. The results show that passive conditioning strategies analysed (envelope treatment, solar gain protection and night-time natural ventilation) reduce energy demand and indoor temperatures, thus increasing energy efficiency and improving indoor comfort conditions. Therefore, these passive conditioning strategies reduce the cooling energy consumption.Spanish government BIA2014–53949-R BIA2017-86383-

Assessing the Effect of Green Strategies on Indoor Thermal Comfort of Office Buildings in Enugu State

It is an undeniable fact that the average temperature is rising. This temperature increase is greatly being influenced by indisputable climate change. The bulk of the negative effects of this climatic change are felt more in the cities. These cities have some critical urban characteristics like unplanned, congested buildings lack of landscape features and reflective surfaces Thus giving rise to urban heat island effect, urban-dust-dome effect and radiation effects from reflective surfaces of roads and roofs. Indoor thermal stresses in these cities are equally increasing because both indoor and outdoor thermal comfort levels are negatively affected. Green strategy is the concept that focuses on using passive means to minimize these environmental problems and improving the indoor air quality IAQ and thermal comfort. When passive means of achieving indoor comfort is effectively implemented, it  results in reducing the excessive use of non-renewable energy for mechanical means of achieving indoor comfort. The main highlight of green strategy is sustainability in the built environment in particular and the entire universe in general. This paper evaluates the efficient use of passive design techniques that will achieve indoor comfort and ensure energy efficient buildings and environmental sustainability. The researchers employed descriptive research methods with extensive literature review. Survey method and statistical regression analysis based on Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) standards, is used to establish the relationship between different green strategies and thermal comfort. The conclusion highlights the importance of green strategies in improving the indoor thermal comfort of occupants in office buildings Keywords: Climate change, Green strategies, Green initiatives, Environmental Sustainability, Regression Analysis, Thermal comfort. Software Package for Social Sciences  (SPSS). DOI: 10.7176/ISDE/10-7-04 Publication date: August 31st 201