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Multifactorial approach to indoor environmental quality perception of social housing residents in Northern Spain
Abstract
Social housing users are generally more vulnerable due to age and socioeconomic conditions and have to deal with specific problems related to vulnerability to poor indoor environment exposure. The current housing model does not respond to the diversity of family structures and their needs, and it is, therefore, essential to integrate residents’ perspectives into the process of improving their quality of life, health and comfort. This study aims to analyse the factors that influence the perceived Indoor Environmental Quality and comfort of public rental housing. It also aims to study occupants’ perceived comfort in relation to the characteristics of the dwellings. To achieve the objective of the study, a multifactorial approach has been applied to a sample of 283 dwellings in 16 buildings of the public rental stock in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain, with data obtained in a survey conducted in the winter. The analysis of the incident variables in the perceived indoor environment supports the idea of the influence of occupants’ perspectives and the subjectivity of their responses in the comfort analyses and provides new insight into the relationship between the physical characteristics of social housing and households’ perceived comfort.
... The value of K is typically set to 5 or 10 to ensure the stability of the cross-validation process and the reliability of the model evaluation [44]. This research approach, from a comprehensive methodology and multi-factor analysis perspective [50], allows for a thorough identification of the spatial characteristics of Bengke residential distributions while also quantifying the influence of various factors on distribution patterns. By utilizing a multi-level analytical framework, this study effectively overcomes the limitations of single-method approaches, ensuring the robustness and accuracy of the analysis results. ...
The article examines the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of traditional Tibetan “Bengke” residential architecture in Luhuo County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The study utilizes spatial statistical methods, including Average Nearest Neighbor Analysis, Getis-Ord Gi*, and Kernel Density Estimation, to identify significant clustering patterns of Bengke architecture. Spatial autocorrelation was tested using Moran’s Index, with results indicating no significant spatial autocorrelation, suggesting that the distribution mechanisms are complex and influenced by multiple factors. Additionally, exploratory data analysis (EDA), the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and regression methods such as Lasso and Elastic Net were used to identify and validate key factors influencing the distribution of these buildings. The analysis reveals that road density, population density, economic development quality, and industrial structure are the most significant factors. The study also highlights that these factors vary in impact between high-density and low-density areas, depending on the regional environment. These findings offer a comprehensive understanding of the spatial patterns of Bengke architecture and provide valuable insights for the preservation and sustainable development of this cultural heritage.
... The most affected households are those in populated areas, apartments, and rented houses, with Acoustic Comfort being the most influential variable. This aligns with findings from other studies, such as Perez-Bezos et al. (2022) in northern Spain and Zalejska-Jonsson and Wilhelmsson (2013) in Sweden, where acoustic comfort was also noted as a significant concern for household occupants. Existing housing standards include noise protection requirements, but little attention is given to this issue in existing buildings or rehabilitation policies. ...
The physical structure of the dwelling itself and its immediate surroundings determine its Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and this has a direct impact on the perception of comfort and wellbeing of the people who live there. Analysing the adequacy of housing from a comfort perception perspective makes it possible to better design renovation strategies for buildings. The aim of this paper is to define a multidimensional index based on multiple comfort variables to measure household discomfort. The proposed method assigns to each household a level of discomfort according to the comfort variables in which it is affected. Subsequently, these households’ values are aggregated to obtain an overall discomfort value for the society analysed. The evolution of the perception of discomfort from 2008 to 2020, the incidence of each of the variables, and the characteristics of the dwellings with the highest levels of discomfort are studied for Spanish households using the Spanish Survey on Income and Living Conditions. The results highlight a large increase in discomfort in 2020, the year of Covid-19 lockdown in Spain, and reveal that the most affected households are those living in populated areas, in apartments and in rented houses, and that the variable that affects them the most is Acoustic Comfort.
... Housing quality or value can be defined from various perspectives [1,2]. The quality of housing can also be expressed in lyrical or abstract terms, such as safe and comfortable housing [3] and houses suitable for living [4]. If one emphasizes a more realistic aspect, seismic resistance is the most important quality indicator for housing in earthquake-prone countries such as Taiwan and Japan [5]. ...
Housing quality is a subject of dispute worldwide, and these disputes are increasing due to the significant differences in the views of producers and consumers on quality standards. To arbitrate disputes, an objective evaluation of housing quality is necessary. In Korea, disputes over housing quality in the post-handover stage result in lawsuits, thus becoming a social issue. This study analyzed the results of lawsuits against housing complexes in Korea. The ratio of defect repair cost to construction cost (DRCCC) was adopted as an indicator, and the quality level of the building was evaluated using a control chart to select failures. The findings showed that there were more cases where the construction cost was small, the housing quality was poor, the deviation was wide, and the quality defect exceeded the limit level of the control chart. To improve housing quality, it is necessary to strengthen quality management, to control the quality within the management limit, and to adjust standards by reflecting the consumer’s viewpoint.
Purpose
The most challenging aspect of hospital design is the creation of an environment that heals rather than the one acting as a barrier to healing. Much has not been done in the aspect of ascertaining the level of impact “indoor environmental quality (IEQ)” has on building occupants in healthcare facilities. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of IEQ on patients' health and well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The study investigates the hypothesis that four IEQ parameters (thermal quality, acoustic quality, lighting quality and indoor air quality [IAQ]) influence patients' overall satisfaction with the performance of hospital wards. Questionnaire responses were sought from the patients as the main occupants of hospital ward buildings. A proposed weighted structural model for IEQ establishing the relationship between IEQ parameters, patients' overall satisfaction and patients' health outcome was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
The most influential IEQ parameters on patients' overall satisfaction with IEQ in hospital wards are thermal quality, IAQ and lighting quality. The findings from this study revealed that the parameters of influence on patients' overall satisfaction and health outcomes vary with hospital ward orientation and design configuration.
Originality/value
This study has explored the need for the integration of all factors of IEQ at the building design stage towards providing a hospital environmental setting that reflects occupants' requirements and expectations and also promotes patient healing processes. This should be the focus of architects and healthcare managers and providers.
The indoor environmental quality (IEQ) was determined by assessment of its various domains, among which the four principal ones are thermal, acoustic, visual and indoor air quality (IAQ). While many IEQ models have been established to develop scheme for assessing the overall IEQ, the lack of model validation significantly limited their applicability. This study aimed to provide new insights into how occupants evaluate the overall IEQ performance by establishing regression models and machine learning models that predict occupants’ overall satisfaction using their satisfactions with the four principal domains of IEQ. Accuracy and applicability of proposed models were examined on two different datasets. Prediction error increased 21% when models were generalized to new dataset collected from different buildings and populations, and error of machine learning models increased more significantly than regression models. The model performance varied across building types. Models trained on samples collected from office settings had better generalization to the similar environment, while increased error was identified for schools and residences. The acoustic environment had a greater impact on females than males, while the IAQ had a greater impact on males. The Shapley Additive Explanations was applied to interpret model predictions and measure contribution of the variables. The results revealed that the unsatisfying IEQ factor often yielded a dominant negative impact on the overall IEQ satisfaction, which can hardly be compensated by a higher satisfaction with another factor. Efficient strategy can be developed to improve overall satisfaction with IEQ based on findings of the present study.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of office workers were required to conduct their work from home. Little is known about the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) preferences and psychosocial comfort preferences of staff working from home. Therefore this study aimed to cluster office workers working at home based on their self-reported preferences for IEQ and psychosocial comfort at their most used workspace and to identify these preferences and needs of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire was administered to employees of ten offices in the Netherlands, and the 502 respondents were clustered with two models by using TwoStep cluster analysis. The first model was based on variables related to IEQ preferences, while the second was to psychosocial comfort preferences. The analysis revealed four IEQ clusters and six psychosocial comfort clusters. Comparison of these results with other similar studies proposed that the prevalence of anxiety, depression, migraine, and rhinitis, increased for this population during the work-from-home period of the pandemic. Further results suggest that both IEQ and psychosocial comfort preferences are situation- and gender-dependent.
Many public social housing building stocks were constructed before the introduction of national thermal regulations, and, as a result, in some situations, energy poverty conditioning during severe winter seasons results in little to no heating habits involving active systems in order to improve building thermal performances. Besides rigorous summer seasons, climate change predictions also indicate rigorous winter seasons will occur that will prevail in some Iberia Peninsula locations, worsening this scenario for this Southern European region. Among others, understanding the extension of discomfort in social housing buildings during heating seasons is therefore essential so as to perceive the suitability of the building stock to deal with present and future climate scenarios. Thus, this article presents a thermal comfort assessment during a winter season period applied to two social housing dwellings located in Covilhã, Portugal, inhabited by elderly residents, under realistic heating habits. An experimental campaign was performed and the results show that discomfort was found to be extremely significant for the majority of the occupied time. Passive means alone and resident heating habits were not enough to achieve proper indoor thermal and humidity conditions, resulting in important losses of well-being to the risk group of the elderly.
Cadastral surveying plays an important role in defining legal boundaries of land and property. The current practice for recording cadastral survey data mainly relies on 2D digital or analog documents. This practice is efficient for simple land parcels but can be challenged in complex building developments. To address the issues stemmed from 2D methods of representing cadastral survey data, 3D spatial information models can be considered as a viable solution for managing cadastral survey data. Building Information Modeling (BIM) enables colsslaborative 3D management of the design, construction, and operation of buildings. There have been extensive studies conducted to investigate the connectivity between BIM and 3D cadaster. Most of these studies focus on managing legal information, such as ownership boundaries and attributes, in BIM-based environments. However, there is limited investigation on how surveying measurements can be mapped into BIM. In this study, the proposed method for integrating the cadastral survey data into the BIM environment includes identifying cadastral survey requirements, using BIM entities relevant to cadastral survey data, enrichment of a BIM prototype, and evaluation of the prototype. The major contribution of this study is to demonstrate the storage of cadastral survey data such as survey marks and traverse lines in the BIM environment. Therefore, this research contributes to the further enrichment of BIM with incorporating data elements related to cadastral surveying practices. It is confirmed that current BIM-based tools provide restricted capabilities for explicit management and visualization of cadastral survey data. This limitation can be addressed in the future enhancements of BIM in terms of supporting important elements for cadastral survey data.
This paper reports the results of a comprehensive indoor environmental quality (IEQ) evaluation conducted in seven office buildings at an Australian university. A mix of objective and subjective assessments was carried out and a total of 519 staff participated in the survey from various non-academic departments. Three types of buildings were included in this study: ‘Heritage listed’ (c.1880–1890s), ‘Conventional’ (c.1960–1980s) and ‘Modern’ (post 2000) office buildings. Although the measured IEQ conditions were relatively good with no significant fluctuation across the selected buildings, the discrepancy between objective IEQ data and subjective occupant evaluations was noted. The Modern building type designed with fully double-glazed façades showed the highest levels of overall comfort and satisfaction and perceived productivity, whereas the Conventional building type constructed during the late 20th-century period, notable for deep floor plates, had the lowest. The heritage listed type buildings had lower window to wall ratios, yet displayed improved occupant satisfaction across all IEQ areas over the conventional type buildings. The results support that building renovation and regular maintenance can improve occupant comfort and satisfaction within offices. The findings could be useful for property managers looking for strategies to improve the performance of their building stock.
This work aims to estimate the expected hours of Predicted Medium Vote (PMV) thermal comfort in Ecuadorian social housing houses applying energy simulations with Phase Change Materials (PCMs) for very hot-humid climates. First, a novel methodology for characterizing three different types of social housing is presented based on a space-time analysis of the electricity consumption in a residential complex. Next, the increase in energy demand under climate influences is analyzed. Moreover, with the goal of enlarging the time of thermal comfort inside the houses, the most suitable PCM for them is determined. This paper includes both simulations and comparisons of thermal behavior by means of the PMV methodology of four types of PCMs selected. From the performed energy simulations, the results show that changing the deck and using RT25-RT30 in walls, it is possible to increase the duration of thermal comfort in at least one of the three analyzed houses. The applied PCM showed 46% of comfortable hours and a reduction of 937 h in which the thermal sensation varies from “very hot” to “hot”. Additionally, the usage time of air conditioning decreases, assuring the thermal comfort for the inhabitants during a higher number of hours per day.
Sustainable housing that both creates good indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and avoids unnecessary energy use has proved difficult to realize. Renovations of multifamily houses provide an opportunity to find this balance. This study concerns whether tenants perceive that conditions for achieving sufficient IEQ with low energy use exist. Focus group interviews with 42 participants, in areas where the rents were in the lower range and included heating up to 21 °C, aimed to capture the tenants' perceptions of: IEQ and actions taken to regulate it; information and control; the connections between IEQ and energy use; and the role of the housing company. Good IEQ was crucial to interviewees, who described it as sufficient heat without draughts, ability to ventilate, and no disturbing sounds or smells. The main responsibility was attributed to the housing company, but daily regulation controlled by tenants. However, unclear interfaces between tenants and the systems that regulate IEQ make it difficult for tenants to act as a positive part of the system. Tenants did not link IEQ to energy use. A holistic view of the physical environment's affordances, including intuitive interfaces, could optimize the balance between good IEQ and energy use.
The energy performance gap in buildings is a well-known phenomenon. However, its actual definition and extent is dependent on the baseline used for defining the gap. In this paper a calibration-based methodology is used to identify and validate the root causes of the performance gap. Following analysis of the performance of four case studies in the UK, from different building sectors, cross sectoral learnings that are applicable in the wider industry context are uncovered. Through the model calibration process and in the overall performance assessment, Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) parameters have been used to improve the robustness of validation of the calibrated models and to highlight the interrelationship of energy and IEQ. The study shows the importance of contractual accountability to minimise performance issues, building a case for having IEQ in energy performance contracts to manage the trade-offs of IEQ against energy performance that leads to unintended health consequences for the occupants.
There are indications that energy-retrofitted buildings can create risks for indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and therefore for health and comfort of occupants. A review was conducted to identify and verify those risks, within three themes: building envelope, heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC)-systems, and occupants. Publications from the last five years in major peer-reviewed journals from different fields (energy, buildings, indoor air, social sciences) were found by using a variety of keywords (health effects, occupant behaviours, energy-efficient retrofitting, etc.). For the building envelope, retrofitted buildings tend to be air-tighter and more thermally insulated. Hence, humidity problems, build-up of pollutants, and overheating may occur. Installing HVAC-systems and issues within (ducts, filters, maintenance, noise) may also compromise IEQ. Although relationships are difficult to establish, evidence shows that certain retrofits increase the risk of health problems, particularly for airways, skin, and eyes. Despite the installation of energy-retrofitting technologies, not all buildings lower their energy consumption. This is partly due to occupants (behaviours, preferences, needs, awareness) and partly due to technical issues. The studies reviewed, mainly focused on the performance gaps of energy-retrofitted homes and on energy-saving measures. “Comfort” and “health” tend to be disregarded, with both being seldom measured and only assessed by simulation. Occupant behaviours, preferences, and needs are understudied and need to be incorporated into the research and development of retrofitting measures. More interdisciplinary approaches are needed, in which buildings & HVAC-systems, occupants, health and comfort, and IEQ are investigated as interacting elements and based on an integrated approach.
Poor Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) adversely affects the performance and health of building users. Building users are an important source of information regarding IEQ and its influence on users’ wellbeing and productivity. This paper discusses the analysis and evaluation of IEQ in lecture halls of two public Architectural Campus buildings (ACB) in Karachi, Pakistan. The method of this research is divided into three parts: (i) An analysis of local climate conditions, (ii) An on‐site survey of two existing ACBs to analyze indoor environmental conditions. and (iii) The analysis of users’ satisfaction using a questionnaire survey. The research results showed that users are dissatisfied with existing hot and humid indoor environment conditions caused by interactions of local outdoor climate conditions, the building’s architecture, and inadequate ventilation within the building. The findings revealed that Karachi has 41.3% comfort hours with the warm sub‐humid season to be the most comfortable season having 80.56% comfort hours. IEQ analysis unveiled that airflow in ACB1 is low, whereas, high airflow is observed in ACB2. The findings of this research unveiled that cross‐ventilation by the adapted placement of openings, improved external shading devices, and provision of increased vegetation are required in both ACBs to achieve a more comfortable IEQ.
User behaviour influences the energy consumption of domestic properties with different range of variations and this has an effect on the results of building simulations based on default or general values, as opposed to implementing user behaviour. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and quantify the effect of implementing user behaviour in building dynamic simulation to calculate heating and domestic how water energy consumption to reduce the performance gap. The results for space heating and domestic hot water from dynamic building simulations will be compare to actual energy bills for a general building
simulation technique and a calibrated building simulation, incorporating user behaviour details. By using user behaviour details to create calibrated building simulations, a correlation to actual energy bills of over 90 % can be achieved for a dataset of 22 properties.
This study has shown that by incorporating user behaviour into building simulations, a more accurate estimation of energy consumption can be achieved. More importantly, the methodology approach allows the user behaviour parameters to be collected by means of a questionnaire, providing an easy and low budget approach to incorporate user behaviour into dynamic building simulations to reduce the performance
In recent years, human behavior and the impact on energy use have become an important consideration in energy efficiency programs both in the residential and commercial building sectors. Because of this, great advances, in both energy efficient technologies and behavior-based saving approaches, have been made. Designers are discovering innovative ways to balance technology and humans in the built environment as well as associated energy outcomes. However, oftentimes, there is still a disconnection between the occupant and building interface. This paper presents findings from a mixed-method study, which investigated adaptive comfort opportunities in an academic research building in the Northwest U.S. A pilot survey was implemented to understand occupants’ perceptions of thermal, acoustic, air quality and visual comfort, as well as opportunities for adaptive comfort behaviors (e.g., opening/closing windows). The researchers utilized a novel survey method, which included a unique photo upload functionality, as well as open-ended survey questions and follow-up email interviews, to better understand the disconnection between the occupants and the building interface. An overarching hypothesis and two research questions guided the data analysis. Findings suggested that occupants liked daylight and electric lighting (when they had control), and they enjoyed the adjustable desks. However, acoustical and visual privacy issues were frequent complaints, especially in the open-office environment. This study provides insights about the importance of understanding the building context and human-building interface, especially when implementing behavioral approaches. Helpful lessons learned from the survey are also presented.
The study presented in this paper focuses on the subjective opinions of occupants of multistory residential buildings by examining the relationship between occupants’ satisfaction and indoor environment quality, and analysing the effect the problems experienced with noise level may have on general satisfaction and the perceived acoustic quality. The analysis is based on data collected through surveys addressed to adults living in green and conventional buildings. The results show that occupants are very satisfied with their apartments, and subjectively rated acoustic quality received very high scores. The responses indicate that noise from neighbours has been experienced relatively seldom by occupants; however, the analysis shows that it is the factor that has the strongest effect on satisfaction with acoustic quality. We have found that the environmental profile of a building has a significant effect on general satisfaction expressed by occupants; however, this effect has not been confirmed for acoustic quality.
The quality of buildings can be assessed in terms of the indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting quality, acoustic comfort afforded the occupants, collectively referred to as Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). A major barrier to a more thoroughly representative audit of actual IEQ performance are the expense and complexity of the measurement instrumentation required. Rapid developments in sensor technology in recent years present the opportunity for continuous and pervasive IEQ monitoring to deliver truly representative characterisations of building performance at a modest cost. The last remaining obstacle to realising these developments seems to be a concern about instrument accuracy. In this paper we test the performance of a low-cost IEQ monitoring system (SAMBA) introduced in an earlier paper. Calibration data from 100 devices was analysed to calculate the standard error of the estimate as a measure of equipment accuracy. Those performance specifications were used in a Monte Carlo simulation based on measurements of thermal comfort parameters from 24 office buildings. Performance measures suggests the low-cost system, whilst not as accurate as laboratory equipment, is more than sufficient for building IEQ diagnostics and compliance assessments. Furthermore, the results of the Monte Carlo simulation show that continuous monitoring systems are better at characterising long-term performance than ad hoc measurement strategies using precision equipment. Low-cost pervasive monitoring technologies therefore offer a unique opportunity to improve our quantitative understanding of, and response to, indoor environmental quality issues.
We present new global maps of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification at an unprecedented 1-km resolution for the present-day (1980–2016) and for projected future conditions (2071–2100) under climate change. The present-day map is derived from an ensemble of four high-resolution, topographically-corrected climatic maps. The future map is derived from an ensemble of 32 climate model projections (scenario RCP8.5), by superimposing the projected climate change anomaly on the baseline high-resolution climatic maps. For both time periods we calculate confidence levels from the ensemble spread, providing valuable indications of the reliability of the classifications. The new maps exhibit a higher classification accuracy and substantially more detail than previous maps, particularly in regions with sharp spatial or elevation gradients. We anticipate the new maps will be useful for numerous applications, including species and vegetation distribution modeling. The new maps including the associated confidence maps are freely available via www.gloh2o.org/koppen.
The study identified and validated the key indicators ofIEQ parameters of measurement in hospital buildings. Four-factor parameters ofIEQ were assessed; such as thermal quality, acoustic quality, visual quality, and indoor air quality (IAQ). Three public hospitals in Nigeria were taken as the case study areas for the IEQ assessment. The results indicated that IEQ parameters are represented significantly by the indicator variables in the hypothesised constructs. Thermal quality has three (3) main indicator variables, while acoustic comfort has two (2). Visual quality also has two (2) main indicator variables with IAQ having only a single indicator variable. The validation of these IEQ parameter indicators can be the basis for periodic assessment of IEQ performance in hospital buildings.
Occupants perform various actions to satisfy their physical and non-physical needs in
buildings. These actions greatly affect building operations and thus energy use. Clearly
understanding and accurately modelling occupant behaviour in buildings are crucial to
guide energy-efficient building design and operation, and to reduce the gap between
design and actual energy performance of buildings. To study and understand occupant
behaviour, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey is one of the most useful tools to
gain insights on general behaviour patterns and drivers, and to find connections
between human, social, and local comfort parameters. In this study, thirty-three
projects were reviewed from the energy-related occupant behaviour research literature
that employed cross-sectional surveys or interviews for data collection from the
perspective of findings, limitations and methodological challenges. This research
shows that future surveys are needed to bridge the gaps in literature but they would
need to encompass a multidisciplinary approach to do so as until now only
environmental and engineering factors were considered in these studies. Insights from
social practice theories and techniques must be acquired to deploy robust and
unbiased questionnaire results, which will provide new, more comprehensive
knowledge in the field and therefore occupant behaviour could be better understood
and represented in building performance simulation to support design and operation of
low or net-zero energy buildings.
This work explores the double effect of urban compactness on building energy performance in a Mediterranean climate, namely the increase of urban heat island (UHI) intensity and the decrease of solar radiation availability on building façades. The energy demand of a test apartment has been calculated under varying conditions of UHI intensity and solar radiation for different urban textures. Results show robust relationships between the energy demand and the ‘site coverage ratio’ of the buildings. This demonstrates that compact urban textures are more energy efficient than less dense urban patterns in a Mediterranean climate.
The aim of recent European Directives and Regulations is the establishment of a common framework for increasing energy efficiency, encouraging the retrofitting of existing housing stock, obsolete in energy terms. Most of the studies carried out on the energy characterisation of existing housing stock for their subsequent retrofitting focus on climate areas in central and northern Europe, but there are fewer studies for southern Europe. This research was initiated in order to contribute to a better understanding of social housing in southern Europe, specifically southern Spain. A protocol was proposed for the assessment of the end-use energy behaviour of social housing stock, taking into consideration geographical location, building typologies, and morphological and constructive characteristics of the envelopes of this housing stock. This protocol is divided into two different phases: a first phase for a general energy assessment and a second phase for a detailed energy assessment. It aims to provide a general energy behaviour assessment as the first step in the proposal of guidelines and strategies for the energy retrofitting of existing social housing stock. In order to achieve these objectives, the first phase of the proposed protocol includes a typological classification of buildings and a morphological and constructive characterisation of thermal envelopes by construction period. The second phase of the protocol includes onsite data collection on hygrothermal behaviour and energy consumption and generation and validation of energy models in the buildings selected for their subsequent energy simulation and rating. In this study, the first phase of the protocol was applied to five case studies built between 1950 and 1980 in the different climate zones in the south of Spain, with the main conclusion that the existing general high level of demand due to the poor thermal performance of the envelope leads to a very low energy rating.
This paper presents the methodology for the calculation of an indoor environmental quality indicator for residential buildings. The ‘Dwelling Environmental Quality Index’ has been developed with the purpose of assisting both households and property managers to identify potential problems with the indoor environment whilst ensuring that indoor environmental quality is not compromised in favour of energy saving. Based on the combined effect of three simple and commonly measured indoor environmental parameters – air temperature, relative humidity and CO2 concentrations; the index reflects in a single value the quality of indoor environmental conditions for the monitored period, in compliance with the European standard EN15251:2007. The application of the Dwelling Environmental Quality Index in single dwellings and in building blocks is demonstrated. The usability of the index as a communication and management tool for individual households and property managers is also demonstrated.
Investigation of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in various types of buildings has currently evolved into a rather intense research activity. IEQ refers to the acceptable levels of thermal, visual and acoustic comfort in addition to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). In the proposed work, a systematic measurement campaign in university classrooms in the Educational School of the University of Western Macedonia, Florina, Greece, is presented; the campaign was performed by the end of the Spring Semester, in free-running classrooms. Measurements include thermal comfort parameters, as well as IAQ ones, namely volatile organic compounds (VOCs), CO2 and NO2 concentration. Lighting and acoustic measurements are also performed, contributing to an integrated IEQ assessment. As far as thermal comfort is concerned, a questionnaire survey aims at providing insight into the validity of the examined comfort models. i.e. Fanger’s and adaptive one. CFD analysis, according to the DesignBuilder software, allows the investigation of spatial phenomena in terms of thermal comfort, as well as the evaluation of the effect of different scenarios regarding the degree of crowding in the classes and windows opening. All in all, the proposed analysis represents an integrated experimental and simulation approach, for the evaluation of IEQ of a demanding space.
The data collected during long-term monitoring (LTM) of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) can reflect occupants’ exposure to contaminants and can be used to improve thermal comfort. As there are large differences among existing guidelines for IEQ monitoring of dwellings, it is important to identify a sampling method that balances data accuracy, sample size and cost. This paper reports the major findings that developed a systematic approach to determining the sample method for IEQ monitoring. In the study, LTM was carried out in 13 naturally ventilated urban residences in Kunming, China. We proposed the continuous sampling strategy (CSS) and discrete sampling strategy (DSS). Descriptive statistics was used to evaluate the performances of both strategies, and it was found that DSS could obtain more accurate data than CSS. Next, an algorithm was developed for calculating the optimal sampling frequencies for different parameters based on the Pearson correlation coefficient. We evaluated the required number of dwellings(RND) for various parameters that satisfied the statistical confidence in Kunming and other four cities of China. We found that with the increase in the household number in one city, the RND will reach to a critical threshold and no longer increase anymore. Using this threshold and the simple random sampling principle, we also provide guidance for determining the RND for IEQ monitoring in residence. It is expected that the results of this study will facilitate the selection of sampling method for similar studies in the future, with reduced manpower and consumption but a representative sample.
Hospitals’ indoor conditions affect patients’ comfort. Comfort is predicted based on threshold values for indoor environmental quality (IEQ) indicators, but discrepancies with actual (dis)comfort occur. Current prediction methods ignore the role of patients’ adaptation or treat it as a ‘black box’. Therefore, we investigated how distinguishing between adaptation strategies may help explain discrepancies. We combined sensor measurements of IEQ indicators (sound, light, temperature) at two hospital wards with a questionnaire among 238 patients. After grouping respondents according to their adaptation strategy, we investigated relationships between strategies, respondents’ experiences of indoor conditions, and measured values of IEQ indicators. Experiences differ when respondents’ adaptation strategy differs. Satisfaction votes are higher when sensation votes are more neutral or more as preferred. This occurs when respondents adapt behaviourally (i.e. adapt indoor conditions) or do not wish to adapt indoor conditions (e.g. adapt sensations), rather than when adapting psychologically (i.e. by choice or imposed). Adaptation strategies influence measured values differently, but this cannot explain differences in experiences. Adaptation strategies therefore seem to influence experiences in a psychological way, which current methods cannot predict. Attending to how adaptation influences experiences of indoor conditions, and how this differs between adaptation strategies, can thus contribute to reducing discrepancies.
The Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) assessment is a hot topic both for designers of industrial buildings and for academics since it has been proven to affect workers’ productivity. Despite the advantages of indirect eliciting approaches, only direct eliciting is used in the literature to assign weights to the main risks included in the IEQ assessment, i.e., those referring to the thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort and indoor air quality. In order to bridge this gap and in line with the drivers of the human-centric industrial revolution, we have developed an indirect eliciting approach based on logistic regression and integer optimization that indirectly derives the aforementioned weights per worker (i.e., individual weighting) on the basis of the overall comfort perceived by him/her in different reference scenarios. These weights are then used to compute a TOPSIS-based risk measure that maps the aggregated, individual and dynamic risks to which the worker is subjected over time.
A real case study is used to validate our proposal. The achieved results highlight the superiority of our indirect eliciting approach compared to the Analytical Hierarchic Process in reconstructing the overall comfort perceived by workers, as well as that age plays a crucial role to assign weights to the main risks included in the IEQ.
A significant share of the global housing stock lacks minimum residential quality standards. This has prompted the emergence of schemes aimed at meeting the needs of current occupants and country-specific carbon targets. Energy retrofitting, in this context, is a cornerstone for initiatives aimed at improving the indoor environmental quality of residential buildings while reducing environmental impacts and costs associated with space conditioning. This study explores different energy retrofitting solutions to the CORVI 1020 scheme, an emblematic mass social housing scheme that was heavily replicated in Chile disregarding local environmental conditions. Building energy simulation and life cycle assessment are used to evaluate three retrofitting scenarios under four contrasting climatic conditions. These scenarios reflect conditions that can be achieved under current subsidized schemes, including moderate and high-performance envelope improvements, with and without a sunspace extension. The scenarios are fine tuned to minimize heating demand in winter and overheating risks in summer. Overall, the high-performance solution without sunspace extension outperforms other scenarios across climates and metrics. This study contributes to the development of strategies to improve residential quality and environmental performance in mass housing from a multi-variable perspective.
Purpose
The Purpose of this paper is to identify statistical relationships between visual environment and occupant productivity. Visual environment is one of the most important indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters, and it directly impacts occupant productivity in offices. The literature outlines the significance of the impact. Still, there is a lack of investigation, statistical analysis and inter-relationships between the independent variables (IEQ factors), especially in the hot and arid climate.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a research study investigating the effects and shows statistical relationships between IEQ on occupant comfort and productivity. The study was conducted in the Middle East, and data was collected for 12 months. It used the response surface analysis to perform analysis.
Findings
This study outlined seven unique relationships highlighting the recommended range, inter-dependencies. Results include that illumination has maximum effect on visual comfort and temperature, daylight having direct influence and relative humidity, wall type next to the seat and kind of workspace also impact visual comfort and productivity. These findings would help to improve occupant comfort and productivity in office buildings. It is recommended to include results and recommendations on design guidelines for office buildings.
Originality/value
This study presents the unique effects of non-visual IEQ parameters on visual comfort and productivity. This investigation also provides a unique method to develop the statistical relationship between various indoor environmental factors and productivity in different contexts and buildings.
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the technical, environmental, economic and thermal comfort impacts of implementing passive measures and heating systems in Ciudad Verde, a large-scale social housing project located at the periphery of Bogota, Colombia.
Design/methodology/approach
A system dynamics (SD) model is proposed to evaluate scenarios through counterfactual experiments, including technical, environmental and economic components. Model inputs are obtained from building energy simulation models and data collected from official reports, public policy documents and construction records.
Findings
Results suggest that the use of heating systems is the best choice to achieve thermal comfort conditions throughout the day. However, both the capital expenditures and CO2 emissions associated with such system make their adoption very difficult. In line with that, the use of heating systems in combination with passive measures stands out as a viable solution since their costs are affordable and their use contributes to reducing CO2 emissions.
Originality/value
The proposed model recreates the dynamics underlying social housing construction processes, the adoption of heating systems and passive measures in low-income dwellings and their corresponding impact on CO2 emissions and indoor thermal comfort conditions. The model can be employed as a support tool in the formulation of social housing policies associated with thermal comfort specifications. In this way, the model represents a first step toward incorporating thermal-related variables into the decision-making processes related to social housing planning and development.
The importance of the office environment to the comfort, productivity and health of workers cannot be overstated. While extant literature has shown that the physical environment of an office has a significant influence on how workers' perform their duties and on their comfort and health, few studies have explored the part played by the length of time they spend in the office. Using our dataset of 5149 workers from across the globe, we investigated the influence of time spent in the office building and at workstations on the relationship between Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) and workers' productivity, comfort and health. An analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analyses were employed. Our findings showed that while those who spent less time at work were less influenced by IEQ factors, noise and air quality were predominant in predicting how those who spent more time at work felt about their productivity, comfort and health. Specifically, a relationship did not exist between all of the IEQ factors and their perception of health for workers who spent less time in the office building. Also, the time spent in the office had a greater influence on the relationship between IEQ and workers' comfort than on their productivity and health. Our findings are useful for measures that ensure office workers achieve required work-related tasks under the appropriate working conditions. They give essential insights into the appropriate length of time workers should spend in the office.
This second edition offers a comprehensive overview of the priority indoor air pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds, indoor particles and fibres, combustion products and other chemical agents that may affect health. It includes updated reviews with a focus on emission processes and on the large variety of volatile organic pollutants. It also introduces new topics, such as reflections on the shift in human health from infection-related diseases to chronic illnesses and the significance of indoor chemical exposure. The authors provide insights into different cultural settings and their consequences for indoor air quality. Further, the book briefly discusses building certification as a market-oriented tool to improve energy efficiency and indoor air quality in the building sector. It appeals to public health specialists; scientists; graduate students in the field of environmental sciences; decision makers in government, regulatory bodies and the construction industry; and facility managers.
Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) is grouped into four main categories: thermal comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ), visual and acoustic comfort. Individual aspects of IEQ are investigated to examine their impact on children's overall comfort in primary schools in the UK. This study has surveyed 805 children in 32 naturally ventilated classrooms during non-heating and heating seasons. This study has calculated the proportion of comfort votes by individual aspects of IEQ, predicted comfort votes by multilinear regression model and estimated the probability of having uncomfortable votes by binary logistic regression.
Results of this study highlight that the proportion of uncomfortable votes should be kept below 10%. The developed multilinear model suggests that for a unit change in Air Sensation Votes (ASVs) and operative temperatures (Top), comfort votes change by 0.28 and 0.12, respectively. Developed multilinear and logistic regression models show that ASVs have a more significant impact on overall comfort than Top. To achieve acceptable comfortable votes and keep the probability of having uncomfortable votes below 10%, ASVs and Top should be kept within these limits: [ASV = very fresh and Top = 19–27 °C], [ASV = fresh and Top = 19–24 °C], and [ASV = OK and Top = 19–22 °C]. The ranges suggest that better perception of IAQ makes up for higher temperatures. It is advised to maintain individual aspects of IEQ, however, dissatisfaction with one aspect of IEQ does not necessarily result in overall discomfort unless that aspect is extremely unacceptable. Investigating the most influential factors on occupants’ comfort suggests which building controls should be prioritized for designers.
The necessity to predict building energy performance assumes a predominant role today. Present regulations in energy matter introduce pressing objectives for the energy requalification of buildings. Within spring 2020, EU Member States must adopt the European Directive 2018/844, which focuses the attention on present buildings. It establishes new obligations to retrofit the existing building stock. Solutions to improve building energy performance and to achieve economic, energy, and environmental benefits become mandatory, requiring robust and reliable procedures for energy modeling and simulation. The present study will show the importance of considering a non-standard occupant profile in energy performance simulations. The investigated edifice is a typical residential building in Naples (southern part of Italy, Mediterranean climate), built during the sixties and seventies. For the energy retrofit of the building, the most common refurbishment interventions in the Neapolitan building stock will be assessed for energy, economic and emissions savings, and thus new thermal insulation and replacement of windows. Firstly, the results will be analyzed by taking into account a standard-use profile of the occupants. Secondly, the possible wrong behaviors of users will be examined, to compare an “energy-intensive” model with the standard retrofitted model. The impact on building energy demand of the following actions will be analyzed: more energy-intensive use of the electric and lighting systems, the opening of the windows during the activation hours of the heating/cooling systems, the modification of the thermostat setpoint, the deactivation of the shading systems. The study shows a considerable increase in energy demand, following the wrong behavior of the occupants, which affects the economic convenience of the refurbishment investment. The energy retrofit is economically and energetically feasible for a standard building occupation, but sometimes wrong habits can reduce the convenience, if energy-intensive behaviors occur. This work will show that, when the numerical building model of a common building refurbishment is realized and when the cost-benefits analysis is performed, the uncertainty in occupant behavior cannot be neglected.
Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a general indicator of the quality of conditions inside a building. We investigated associations of perceived IEQ including air quality, thermal comfort, noise, and light quality with stress at work and the extent to which workplace location modifies these associations. We recruited 464 full‐time workers from four companies in Singapore. Data on socio‐demographic characteristics, lifestyle/health‐related factors, and workplace factors were collected through self‐administered questionnaires. Perceived IEQ satisfaction scores of all four factors were collected using the validated OFFICAIR questionnaire. We fitted a logistic regression model to assess associations between each perceived IEQ score and stress at work, adjusting for potential confounders. The odds ratio for stress at work associated with a 1‐unit increase in perceived air quality score was 0.88 (0.82‐0.94), 0.89 (0.82‐0.97) for thermal comfort, 0.93 (0.87‐0.98) for noise, and 0.88 (0.82‐0.94) for light quality. Significant associations were found in office and control rooms for all four perceived IEQ, except for thermal comfort in office rooms. Higher satisfaction levels of perceived air quality, thermal comfort, noise, and lighting, were significantly associated with a reduction in stress at work. Our findings could potentially provide a useful tool for environmental health impact assessment for buildings.
Exposure to noise is proven to have important repercussions on human comfort and health conditions. In recent decades, efforts to increase awareness among users have focused on highlighting the benefits of an appropriate acoustic indoor environment. In addition, given the significant increase in complaints about noise, the control, reduction, and limitation of sound transmission have become important issues to be considered in acoustic retrofit work in buildings. Much of the housing stock was built in a period characterized by the limitation or absence of standards, and renovation interventions should be geared towards existing buildings. However, despite the major potential to improve quality of life, only a handful of countries consider old buildings in their national Building Codes and regulations. The main aim of this work is to develop a comparative study of the acoustic requirements for indoor sound insulation between dwellings of existing buildings established in current building regulations around the world. The analysis of the documents concludes that the usual difference between requirements for new and existing buildings is 5 dB, both for airborne sound insulation and impact sound insulation. To this end, this paper provides the basis for discussion regarding future cooperation for the optimization of acoustic regulations for old buildings.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) operation is the largest contributor to residential building energy use and can significantly influence occupant thermal comfort and behaviours. Despite the boom in high-rise residential building construction, little is known about the relationship between occupant comfort and behaviors and HVAC operation in these contemporary buildings. In this study, connected thermostat data and occupant surveys from 55 participants across two contemporary high-rise condominium buildings were used to characterize this relationship to reveal opportunities for improved comfort and energy efficiency. Survey data indicated that occupant thermal discomfort was prevalent across both buildings in the heating and cooling seasons (48% and 53% reporting discomfort in heating and cooling seasons, respectively). The measured data corroborated the survey findings showing that over-conditioning of suites is a chronic issue across seasons. However, investigation into the temperatures of suites located in different parts of the buildings indicated that the overheating was influenced by wind, solar radiation and winter stack effect, but not in the ways suggested by building physics (e.g. air moving in opposite direction of predicted stack effect). This supports our hypothesis that the MAU operational characteristics and incorrect balancing of air duct networks are likely causing over-conditioning but further investigation is ongoing to confirm this. Analysis of suite HVAC unit runtimes also revealed low runtimes in heating season, which may limit the effectiveness of improved (e.g. occupant-based) in-suite HVAC controls, given the minimal space conditioning energy consumption in these particular suites. This study demonstrates the potential for using connected thermostat data as a diagnostic tool to identify opportunities for energy savings in the building.
Elderly people usually spend more than 80% of their daily lives in apartments that mostly belong to obsolete buildings with reduced spaces and inadequate indoor environmental quality, which may lead to tiredness and other adverse health symptoms. In an attempt to evaluate indoor environmental quality and identify the main influencing factors of social housing occupied by the elderly in the Mediterranean climate, this research develops a monitoring campaign covering different seasons to characterise temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide concentrations, which are directly associated with the presence of potential air pollutants, in multi-family apartments that only depend on natural ventilation, representing the social housing patterns in Spain. The results contribute a detailed diagnosis of the indoor environmental quality under diverse scenarios, and highlight that elderly occupants frequently suffer from unhealthy carbon dioxide concentrations, above the 900-ppm recommended average value in indoor air guidelines, and from temperature values outside the established comfort range. The discussion shows the advantageous character of ventilation patterns during sleeping periods, with a 2,000-ppm reduction between certain scenarios. Additionally, retrofit opportunities are identified by diagnosing the influence of the building typology, occupation, climate conditions, air infiltration rates, and occupant behaviour, and holistic implications are provided to promote efficient urban regeneration. The conclusions indicate that ventilation habits and future energy renovation strategies should deal with the sick building syndrome by avoiding high airtightness of insulation solutions through moving towards healthier housing stock and should provide policy implications that promote efficient renovation proposals for ageing in place.
Different stakeholders are involved in the energy consumption in buildings: occupants, designers, managers, operators, policymakers, technology developers and vendors. Therefore, it is necessary to understand their opinions and needs to optimise the energy consumption in buildings during their lifespan. Questionnaires and interviews have been applied; however, the literature still supports that energy research lacks social science approaches to improve their outcomes. Although limitations are inherent in qualitative methods (e.g., social desirability bias), much information such as human needs, preferences and opinions cannot be obtained through quantitative methods like building monitoring. Therefore, to have a deeper understanding of human-related aspects regarding the energy consumption in buildings, this literature review synthesises opportunities and main challenges of applying methods commonly used in social sciences. We reviewed papers published over the last five years (from 2014 to 2019) and presented information about questionnaires, interviews, brainstorming, post-occupancy evaluation, personal diaries, elicitation studies, ethnographic studies, and cultural probe. Increasing use of qualitative methods is expected to support the spread of human-centric policies and design/control of buildings, with a consequent overall optimisation of energy performance of buildings as well as the comfort of occupants.
Occupant comfort and satisfaction in residential buildings is often subpar, yet traditional post-occupancy evaluation surveys are time-consuming and difficult to achieve large samples. Moreover, quantitative results do not necessarily provide insights about how to improve indoor environmental quality (IEQ). To address these limitations, this paper proposes a novel method to develop new knowledge about occupant comfort and satisfaction: text-mining of public guest reviews in temporary accommodations. Using a set of 1.35-million Canadian Airbnb reviews, a methodology is developed and demonstrated to obtain top reported causes for IEQ complaints, assess seasonable trends of IEQ issues, and quantify the frequency of multi-domain IEQ complaints. The results indicate that five percent of all reviews complained of IEQ issues, while a quarter of a percent complained of multiple forms of IEQ. Reviews with IEQ complaints had a statistically significantly worse overall sentiment score, suggesting significant importance of IEQ on overall guest satisfaction. Overall, the method yielded new quantitative and qualitative knowledge about IEQ in guest homes, but the developed text-mining methods have some limitations, such as failing to correctly interpret idioms and distinguishing comfort-related words that have multiple meanings.
Previous studies have demonstrated that non-thermal factors may affect occupants' thermal response in the indoor environment. The effects of demographic and contextual factors on thermal perception have been extensively studied, yet in previous studies, confounding variables have not been commonly controlled; it is also not known how these factors interact with each other. The current study leverages on the largest global thermal comfort database to date and explores the impacts of available demographic and contextual factors, including gender, ventilation mode, building typology, season and climate, on occupants' thermal sensation, along with their two-way and three-way interaction effects. Results indicate that all tested demographic and contextual factors except ventilation mode significantly affect occupants' thermal sensation. Under the same indoor environmental and outdoor climatic conditions, males perceive the environment as being significantly warmer than females in all contexts; males' thermal sensitivity is also consistently lower than females'. Thermal sensations in multifamily housing are significantly lower and closer to neutral than in office buildings under the same exposure conditions, yet it is likely to be the combined effects of building typology and ventilation mode. All else being equal, occupants in office buildings have less seasonal variation in thermal sensation than classrooms and multifamily housing. Residents in a warmer climate deem the same indoor thermal environment significantly cooler than residents in a cooler climate; this climatic adaptation is more pronounced in females than in males. Occupants’ sensitivity to indoor air temperature, humidity and air movement significantly vary between different ventilation modes under different seasons.
The main goal of this article is to review the state-of-the-art literature and establish a connection between the factors that influence health and productivity in any given indoor environment, whether it be residential or commercial. The study reviews data from books, standards, international SCI journals, conference articles, and gray literature that focuses on the main factors of indoor environmental quality.
Indoor environmental quality is broadly separated in the up to eight main factors. However, the emphasis will be given only to the factors that can be measured and controlled actively: thermal comfort, indoor air quality and ventilation, visual comfort and acoustic comfort. Further, the article discusses minimum requirements for implementation of indoor environmental quality evaluation and its relation with green guides and an emerging low-cost sensor array.
The article aims to provide a comprehensive view of challenges being faced daily by researchers and the research currently being done on the forefront of indoor environmental quality. Thus, future researches can gain a concise overview of this field of studies and a base to build their future research upon.
The paper presents a review of the literature on the use of the questionnaire as a tool for collecting energy data in residential buildings. Numerous studies used the questionnaire to gather necessary information for different purposes. However, even using the same tool, the procedures differ in terms of distribution and compilation, contact with the interviewees and type of proposed questions. One hundred thirty-seven studies were considered in the review, including both scientific articles and surveys reports. The available works were analysed and classified according to the geographical origin, period, sample size, sample structure, data collection methods, response rate, data processing, and objectives of the investigation. In the 80% of the selected studies, the questionnaire is used as unique tool for data collection, albeit cases in which the questionnaire is coupled with other survey techniques, such as field measurements and time use surveys, have also been recorded. The in-person interview is the most common completion option in the sample and it is also the method that produces the highest response rate (77.6%). Generally, the collected data are subjected to statistical processing (over 80% of the cases). Regarding the objective of the surveys, the questionnaire is mainly employed for investigations on energy consumption and occupants’ behaviour, but also other purposes were identified. Overall, the revised sample and the experiences reported are largely varied and heterogeneous. The lack of a homogeneous methodology appears in the use of an extremely diversified terminology. Therefore, the codification of a reference method and the standardisation of the nomenclature would be desirable. It would be useful to define general guidelines to be followed when designing surveys by using questionnaires. The review provides some suggestions and guidance on the use of questionnaire, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, and represents a source of information for future researches focused on the energy performance of buildings.
The need to reduce the carbon footprint of the current stock of multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) creates an opportunity to improve the indoor environmental quality (IEQ), particularly in buildings occupied by vulnerable populations. This investigation presents IEQ findings from an occupant survey of 180 suites across seven social housing MURBs. The results show many residents are reporting discomfort in all three categories of outcomes surveyed, thermal comfort, olfactory comfort and health symptoms. Residents in two of the seven buildings have higher thermal discomfort, and initial analysis suggests that higher glazing ratios may be a contributing factor. Windows are generally associated with higher solar gains and drafts, making them a good retrofit target for energy and IEQ gains. Resident interventions, such as use of fans or window air conditioning units, were not effective. Olfactory discomfort is another challenge for residents, 80% of whom reported discomfort on at least a weekly basis. Retrofits that exhaust odors from within the suite and limit inter-suite odor transfer could improve olfactory conditions. The buildings that have higher rates of olfactory and thermal discomfort also have higher frequency of health symptoms, warranting further investigation of interrelationships among the outcomes. Residents who report thermal discomfort more frequently report olfactory discomfort and experience more frequent health symptoms. Overall, these results are useful benchmarks of the current IEQ status of this type of building. Understanding the results is helpful for targeting retrofit strategies across multiple IEQ dimensions.
A building as shelter is designed to provide an indoor environmental quality (IEQ) that is comfortable and appealing to its users. Having the understanding of the relationship between IEQ performance in buildings and the overall satisfaction derivable from the environment by the building occupants are necessary variables that will enhance the formulation of the requirements for architectural and building systems design and control. This study is aimed at developing a conceptual framework model for evaluating the performance of IEQ and occupants’ satisfaction in hospital ward buildings. This conceptual framework is based on hypothesised model constructs, using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Regression Models (SRM). The data were analysed, using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The analysis of the different specified model constructs in the framework resulted in an evaluation model for IEQ performance (IEQPM) and occupants’ satisfaction (IEQPOS) in hospital ward buildings. The IEQPM model indicated that thermal quality, acoustic quality, visual quality, and indoor air quality (IAQ) are significant determinants of IEQ performance indirectly measured through the interrelationship among ten different indoor environment indicators. However, the level of importance of the four parameters of the IEQ performance differed, having different weighting factors of 0.61, 0.53, 0.40, and 0.47. The significant relationship between IEQ performance and occupants’ satisfaction as established by the IEQPOS model resulted into a single index score value called ‘Comprehensive Occupant Satisfaction’ Index (COSI) which can be used for the assessment of occupancy comfort survey aspect of IEQ criteria in green building rating system.
Thermal comfort influences occupant health and perceptions of the indoor environment. It is particularly important for vulnerable populations, such as those who inhabit social housing, because they may be more sensitive and prone to illness when exposed to high or low temperatures. In this study, we evaluated hygrothermal conditions inside 70 social housing units in Toronto across seven buildings for a year. We found that all the buildings had a high prevalence of discomfort due to high heat in the summer, with some units spending most of the time above 28 °C. This was indicative that there is insufficient cooling in the units. Further, we found that some units were over-heated during the winter season. Additionally, by analyzing carbon dioxide concentrations, we found that there was no evidence that the units were under-ventilated. Our results were compared to occupant surveys administered in the beginning of the study, and we found that there were discrepancies between the monitoring results and what occupants reported. In particular, there were several reports of under-heating in the winter prior to the monitoring period while the monitored data did not show evidence of under-heating, but this may be partially due to a mild winter in the monitored year. Older buildings may not be fit to withstand extreme heat events that some cities are experiencing and may be placing some of their occupants at risk for heat stresses. Planned energy retrofits are an opportunity to address thermal comfort concerns.
The refurbishment of residential buildings is fundamental to fulfil the EU’s CO2 emissions and energy savings objectives. Social housing estates built during the Spanish post-war period are vulnerable areas in Spanish cities that require public economic investment for their urban regeneration, and to refurbish their buildings. Public economic resources must centre on the buildings that most require these actions, which are precisely those with a higher energy demand. This article proposes a simplified model to predict heating and cooling energy demands of buildings with no insulating material layer in their envelopes, which was conducted based on the case study of social housing buildings built in the Spanish city of Zaragoza between 1945 and 1975. The model obtained herein predicts the cooling and heating energy demands of buildings from only knowing a few inputs that are easily obtained, and is useful for the energy characterisation of large residential stocks without the need of dynamic simulation.
Social housing residents often struggle with achieving adequate levels of warmth in their home on a limited household budget. Additionally, other housing problems such as damp are common. Previous research has found a link between housing problems and poor health and reduced well-being, but this relationship is complex and poorly understood. A survey among UK social housing residents (N = 536) investigated the association between cold and damp housing, as well as the role of energy affordability concerns in the relationship between housing problems and health. The findings indicated that struggles with keeping warm related to a cluster of damp and mould issues rather than any one specific issue. In describing these problems householders expressed a sense of frustration and helplessness. Support was found for an indirect effect on health whereby households experiencing cold, damp or mould issues reported more difficulty with affording their energy bills, these affordability concerns in turn related to poor health and well-being. The effects were found to be more consistent and stronger for men compared to women. Policies aimed at reducing housing problems should consider the important role of affordability concerns and the need for households to regain control of their energy bills.
Research has shown the large effect that occupants have on buildings' performance. Uncertainties related to the actual energy consumption of buildings increase the risks for the investments in low carbon technologies. Monitoring building occupancy can potentially decrease these uncertainties by providing more information about the occupants and their behaviour. The objective of the investigation is to establish an approach to inform the design process (e.g. building simulation) by addressing the complexity of occupants behaviour. The approach integrates information on occupants' behaviour and attitudes regarding energy use and indoor conditions to determine the requirements for building simulation and energy calculations. This paper presents the results of two monitoring campaigns in which the approach was employed. The monitoring campaigns focused on two owner-inhabited apartments in Spain and three social rental dwellings in The Netherlands. The results have given first insights of the power of the methodology to obtain detailed and understandable data on the occupancy patterns. This investigation highlighted the importance socio-economical status and attitudes towards energy conservation on occupants' behaviour in residential buildings. The methods described in this paper can be readily used to develop occupancy and heating profiles for monitored households to be used in building simulation programs.