Clima urbano: episódios de inverno e primavera em Rio Verde-GO

A perda de áreas florestadas causa extremos climáticos, como picos de temperatura e quedas da umidade relativa do ar, comprometendo a qualidade ambiental. Em Rio Verde, Goiás, com a expansão da área urbana, áreas de floresta foram reduzidas, trazendo um desconforto térmico na população. Assim, o objetivo deste artigo foi estimar as variações de temperatura e umidade relativa do ar, em três pontos de coletas distintos na cidade de Rio Verde-GO, considerando-se as características da superfície (uso da terra, vegetação, relevo) durante os meses de julho (inverno) e outubro (primavera) de 2018. Para isso foram processadas relações entre as temperaturas (T) e umidade relativa (UR) do ar com as áreas (vegetada; construída/pavimento e solo exposto) num raio de 200 m entre os pontos de coletas. Com essas informações fundamentadas no estudo na Teoria do Clima Urbano, por meio do subsistema termodinâmico (relativo à temperatura e umidade relativa do ar) foram feitas relações estatísticas entre a variação dos atributos climáticos e observamos os parâmetros geográficos, tais como porcentagem de vegetação, área construída, solo exposto, e a atuação e dinâmica atmosférica da região no período analisado. Os resultados mostraram que os aspectos do meio físico dos pontos amostrais, principalmente a vegetação, contribuiu para a variação dos registros da temperatura do ar mínima (T. mín) e máxima (T. máx) absoluta , com oscilação de 1,4 a 2,5°C e 2,8 a 4°C, enquanto os valores da umidade relativa do ar mínima e máxima absoluta variaram de 0,6 a 11,6% e 2,2 a 5,4%, respectivamente.Urban climate: winter and spring episodes in Rio Verde-GOA B S T R A C TThe loss of forested areas causes climatic extremes, such as temperature peaks and drops in relative humidity, compromising environmental quality. In Rio Verde, Goiás, with the population growth and the expansion of the urban area, forest areas were decimated, bringing a thermal discomfort to the population. The objective of this article was to estimate the variations in temperature and relative humidity in three distinct collection points in the city of Rio Verde-GO, considering the surface characteristics (land use, vegetation, relief) during the months of July (winter) and October (spring) 2018. For this purpose, relationships between the temperatures (T) and relative humidity (RH) of the air were processed with the areas (vegetated; constructed/paved and exposed soil) within a radius of 200 m between the collection points. With this information based on the study in the Theory of Urban Climate, through the thermodynamic subsystem (relative to the temperature and relative humidity of the air), statistical relationships were made between the variation of climatic attributes and we observed the geographical parameters, such as percentage of vegetation, area constructed, exposed soil, and the performance and atmospheric dynamics of the region in the analyzed period. The results showed that the physical aspects of the sample points, mainly the vegetation, contributed to the variation of the minimum (T. min) and maximum (T. max) absolute air temperature records, with an oscillation of 1,4 to 2,5°C and 2,8 to 4°C, while the minimum and maximum absolute relative humidity values varied from 0,6 to 11,6% and 2,2 to 5,4%, respectively.Keywords: Urban climate, climatic attributes, physical environment, land use and occupation

Application of developed facade panel from recycled CDW: A case study

Using waste materials for production of sustainable exterior façade panel, that can be recycled at the end of its life cycle as part of a circular economy model, can significantly reduce environmental footprint of buildings and help preserve natural resources. The envelope system under consideration is a ventilated prefabricated wall panel from recycled construction and demolition waste (CDW). In this paper, hygrothermal simulations together with field monitoring of hygrothermal performance, energy consumption, indoor comfort and air quality in real environment conditions have been presented. Results show that developed panel is a robust, moisture-safe panel suitable for constructing energy high performing buildings. Thermal discomfort in summer is related to the architectural design of the building.

Evaluation of Green Elements and Thermal Comfort Condition of Assyafaah Mosque, Singapore

A mosque is a place for worship and religious activities that are traditionally built with a typical design and shape with a dome and minaret as its traditional symbols. The most basic design of a mosque is a simple single-storey rectangular-shaped building with a prayer hall inside it. Design in the past was influenced by social and cultural aspects. However, regional and climatic differences have led to thermal discomfort and unnecessary energy use if the mosque is not properly designed. Therefore, there is a need to consider comprehensive planning and review for passive design to avoid thermal discomfort and excessive use of energy. Assyafaah Mosque in Singapore is one example that considers sustainable elements in its design. While Singapore is located very near to the hot equatorial line, many passive and green features have been integrated into the design and construction of the mosque, and this made it possible to achieve an acceptable thermal condition according to the adaptive and PMV thermal comfort model. The design maximizes the potential of naturally ventilated design with other passive strategies which allow for both thermal comfort and energy saving. This paper aims to study the impact of natural ventilation and other passive design decisions on the thermal comfort of the Assyafaah mosque in a hot and humid climate.

A Thermal Discomfort Index for Demand Response Control in Residential Water Heaters

Demand-response techniques are crucial for providing a proper quality of service under the paradigm of smart electricity grids. However, control strategies may perturb and cause discomfort to clients. This article proposes a methodology for defining an index to estimate the discomfort associated with an active demand management consisting of the interruption of domestic electric water heaters. Methods are applied to build the index include pattern detection for estimating the water utilization using an Extra Trees ensemble learning method and a linear model for water temperature, both based on analysis of real data. In turn, Monte Carlo simulations are applied to calculate the defined index. The proposed approach is evaluated over one real scenario and two simulated scenarios to validate that the thermal discomfort index correctly models the impact on temperature. The simulated scenarios consider a number of households using water heaters to analyze and compare the thermal discomfort index for different interruptions and the effect of using different penalty terms for deviations of the comfort temperature. The obtained results allow designing a proper management strategy to fairly decide which water heaters should be interrupted to guarantee the lower discomfort of users.

ASSESSMENT OF AIR CHANGE EFFECTIVENESS AND THERMAL COMFORT IN A NATURALLY VENTILATED KITCHEN WITH INSECT-PROOF SCREEN USING CFD

ABSTRACT Many dwellings in warm-humid climates attain a comfortable environment by natural ventilation. The opening of exterior windows for ventilation allows the entry of insects along with the breeze. As a remedy, occupants install insect-proof screens on windows resulting in reduced airflow into the interior. This study attempts to evaluate the air change effectiveness and thermal comfort in a residential kitchen with insect-proof screens. A kitchen with insect-proof screens on the windows is compared with a case without insect-proof screens. Numerical simulation was conducted using ANSYS Fluent 2019 R2. The insect-proof screen is modelled as a porous media. The air velocity and temperature measurements were validated by measurements in a real scenario. The presence of insect-proof screens reduced the air velocity inside the space by 82%. However, the airflow pattern in the case with screens was more uniformly distributed. The mean age of the air was considerably higher in the case with insect-proof screens, which in turn resulted in a reduced ACE. The presence of an insect-proof screen resulted in a Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) of 2.79 indicating a ‘hot’ sensation, whereas in the other case, the comfort vote is only 1.93 indicating a ‘warm’ sensation. The presence of insect-proof screens on windows reduced the air velocity and ventilation efficiency, contributing to increased thermal discomfort in the kitchen.

Relation between occupants’ health problems, demographic and indoor environment subjective evaluations: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey study in Java Island, Indonesia

This study aimed to evaluate the link between health problems, demographic factors, and the indoor environment quality of residents in Indonesia. We conducted a cross-sectional design study through a questionnaire survey with 443 respondents aged between 12 and 81 years. The questionnaire was concerned with previous health problem occurrences associated with thermal discomfort experiences, indoor environments, economic conditions, and basic anthropometric factors. Logistic regression with the odds ratio (OR) was applied to evaluate the tendency of different respondent groups to suffer from certain health problems, when compared to reference groups. Furthermore, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to incorporate certain factors (economic conditions, thermal discomfort experiences, and perceived indoor environments) into a single model to understand their direct and indirect effects on health conditions. The results indicate that economic conditions are the most significantly associated with health problems. Furthermore, we found that the low-income group was the most vulnerable to health problems, including coughing, puking, diarrhoea, odynophagia, headaches, fatigue, rheumatism, fidgeting, skin rashes, muscle cramps, and insomnia (OR: 1.94–6.04, p <0.05). Additionally, the SEM suggested that the respondents’ economic conditions and thermal discomfort experiences had significant direct effects on their health problems with standardized estimates of -0.29 and 0.55, respectively. Additionally, perceived indoor environment quality, which is possible to cause thermal discomfort experience, indirectly affect health problems. These findings contribute an insightful and intuitive knowledge base which can aid health assessments associated with demographic and physical environments in developing sustainable and healthy environment strategies for the future.

Usage of Arduino-based Datalogger for thermal comfort variables monitoring

Environmental monitoring is an effective tool to identify problems in anthropic areas, and the emergence of cyber-physical sensors contributes to technological advances in the area. This paper introduces a device based on the Arduino cyber-physical platform to monitor air temperature and relative humidity in real-time with high efficiency. With the relationship between these two environmental variables, it will be possible to calculate the Heat Index (CI), the Temperature and Humidity Index (ITU), the Effective Temperature Index (ET), and the Thermal Discomfort Index (IDT). The Datalogger developed is easily programmable and easy to assemble and presented stable operation and proper functioning.