Understanding Occupants’ Thermal Sensitivity According to Solar Radiation in an Office Building with Glass Curtain Wall Structure

The thermal comfort of occupants in the increasing number of modern buildings with glass curtain wall structures is of significant research interest. As the thermal sensitivity of building occupants varies with building features, situational factors, and the human body’s thermal balance, it is necessary to derive the comfort temperature based on field research, which was conducted in this study in a South Korean office building with a glass curtain wall structure. The influence of solar radiation on the indoor thermal environment and thermal comfort obtained by measurements and occupant questionnaires was analyzed using cumulative graphs and a sensitivity analysis. The observed changes in operative temperature over time confirmed that occupant comfort was significantly affected by the radiant temperature. Based on this result, two groups (Group A near the windows and Group B near the interior corridor) were defined for analysis. Owing to the influx of solar radiation, Group A was more sensitive to changes in the thermal environment (0.67/°C) than Group B (0.49/°C), and the derived comfort temperature for each group differed from the set temperature by approximately ±2 °C. Thus, it was confirmed that the solar radiation introduced through a glass curtain wall building has a direct impact on the indoor thermal environment and occupant comfort according to location.

Field Study on Energy-Saving Behaviour and Patterns of Air-Conditioning Use in a Condominium

In the international movement to combat the threat of climate change, the timely implementation of residential energy-saving practises is becoming an urgent issue. Because the number of apartments is increasing, we analysed data from home energy management systems (HEMSs) and data from questionnaire surveys of 309 households in a condominium. We focused on the seasonal variation in air-conditioning (AC) use in living-dining rooms to determine the tendency of energy use for heating/cooling related to the characteristics of flats, the profiles of residents, and energy-saving behaviours. In winter, 80% of residents mainly used gas floor heating rather than AC and 24% did not use AC in winter. In households where someone stays home for long hours, they prefer gas floor heating rather than AC in winter. These households also tend to engage in energy-saving behaviours to adjust the indoor thermal environment. There are several types of energy-saving lifestyles; therefore, effective energy-saving measures should be considered for both energy efficiency and the thermal comfort of residents.

Assessment of indoor thermal environment of Aceh house based on WBGT index

Thermal comfort is one of the standard assessments of building thermal environment. Air movement is an important parameter for in a naturally ventilated to achieve thermal comfort by accelerating the evaporative cooling process on the human body. Aceh House has a standard of thermal comfort with a vernacular architecture with a natural ventilation system. This vernacular architectural building has a fairly high harmonization of the environment because it has undergone a process of adaptation. In this study, observations were made at the Original House (OH), the Adaptive Reuse House (ARH), and the Aceh Modified House (AMH). By using the method of assessing changes in environmental comfort, using Wet Bulb Temperature Index (WBGT) method, the minimum and maximum temperature ranges are 25°C and 30°C. In the WBGT thermal rating, AMH has the higher thermal and is followed by ARH and OH respectively. Thus, OH has lower thermal compared to other Aceh houses.

Indoor Thermal Environment Challenges of Light Steel Framing in the Southern European Context

Over the past decades, Southern European residential architecture has been typically associated with heavyweight hollow brick masonry and reinforced concrete construction systems; however, more industrialised alternative systems have been gaining a significant market share, such as the light steel framing (LSF). Regardless of the proliferation of LSF buildings, a lack of experimental research studies have been performed on this construction system in terms of the indoor thermal environment and thermal comfort in the Southern European climate context. Moreover, a research gap also exists regarding experimental comparisons with typical brick masonry buildings. The present study focused on this research gap by characterising and comparing the performance of these two construction systems. A long-term experimental campaign was carried out, involving the construction and monitoring of two identical test cells, differing only by construction system. The test cells were located in Portugal and were monitored over an entire year. The results revealed that the LSF experimental test cell presented higher daily indoor air temperature fluctuations, leading to more extreme maximum and minimum values, closely following the outdoor dry bulb temperature variations. The more responsive behaviour was also reflected in the indoor thermal comfort analysis, with the LSF cell presenting slightly worse performance; however, some advantages were also observed regarding the LSF construction system, which could provide benefits during intermittent residential occupation, especially in mild climates, in which overheating is not a major concern.