Thermal Comfort Performance in Buildings: Challenges and Innovative Solutions

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2023) | Viewed by 3449

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, P.O. Box 2483, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Interests: sustainable architecture; energy-efficient design; housing planning and policy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability of resources including energy is a main global concern today, as reflected in the development plans of different countries and organizations. This includes the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically Goal 11. This goal aims to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. One key determinant here is to create buildings that are sustainable and healthy. Thermal comfort in this context is a main important issue to designers, researchers, and policy makers. It is an ultimate design goal that improves people’s physical and mental health and contributes to energy savings in green buildings. There are several architectural design strategies that could be innovatively explored in this regard, considering the recent technological developments and the post-pandemic design requirements. Thus, the goal of this Special Issue of Buildings titled “Thermal Comfort Performance in Buildings: Challenges and Innovative Solutions” is to address the urban and architectural strategies that could be implemented to improve thermal comfort conditions in our built environment. Papers that critically address these strategies are particularly welcome to this Special Issue.

Dr. Omar S. Asfour
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • green buildings
  • sustainable architecture
  • solar architecture
  • thermal comfort
  • energy efficient design
  • passive urban design
  • low energy buildings

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

33 pages, 143499 KiB  
Article
Determination of Window Dimensions Using Mathematical and Simulation Methods to Improve Window Performance: A Case Study on the Jatinegara Barat Flats, Jakarta
by Sally Septania Napitupulu, Gagoek Hardiman and Rumiati Rosaline Tobing
Buildings 2022, 12(11), 1954; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111954 - 11 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1308
Abstract
The construction of flats is one of the steps toward fulfilling the need for housing in Jakarta and other big cities in Indonesia. This study investigated the thermal problems that focus on air movement in residential units of flats due to window dimensions [...] Read more.
The construction of flats is one of the steps toward fulfilling the need for housing in Jakarta and other big cities in Indonesia. This study investigated the thermal problems that focus on air movement in residential units of flats due to window dimensions that cannot accommodate the air velocity that surrounds the buildings because of monotonous window dimensions and the high elevation of the residential units. The position of the interest of this research is on the search for window dimensions that allow comfortable air movement in the residential unit. Based on these problems and interest, the pertinent issue is the design of window dimensions within the facades of the buildings according to the actual air velocity and the elevation of the residential units. The selected object of study was the Jatinegara Barat flats, a block of high-rise flats located in the middle of East Jakarta, Indonesia, which is adjacent to the river. We used a quantitative deductive methodology for the problem analysis via mathematical and simulation methods that use the Ansys R1 2020 software. The final results showed that the relationships between window dimensions, air velocity, and the elevation of residential units can be mapped horizontally and vertically by paying attention to the locations of the window openings with respect to the wind direction and building layout. The horizontal and vertical maps showed repetition of the window dimensions every four floors, with the four floors in the center of the building (read vertically) having window dimensions one-quarter smaller than the four floors above and four floors below. Full article
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14 pages, 3350 KiB  
Article
How the Energy Price Variability in Italy Affects the Cost of Building Heating: A Trnsys-Guided Comparison between Air-Source Heat Pumps and Gas Boilers
by Vincenzo Ballerini, Eugenia Rossi di Schio and Paolo Valdiserri
Buildings 2022, 12(11), 1936; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111936 - 10 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1649
Abstract
The paper investigates the variation in building thermal energy demand for different indoor air set-point temperature and presents an economic analysis comparing the cost of a heating generation system based on an air-to-water heat pump and a gas boiler. Dynamic simulations were performed [...] Read more.
The paper investigates the variation in building thermal energy demand for different indoor air set-point temperature and presents an economic analysis comparing the cost of a heating generation system based on an air-to-water heat pump and a gas boiler. Dynamic simulations were performed considering three different residential building characteristics of the Italian building stock placed in different Italian municipalities: Milan, Rome and Naples. An economic analysis was carried out considering the gas and electricity prices related to the years 2019–2022 provided by Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment (ARERA). The analysis showed the competitiveness of the heat pump compared with the gas boiler as a heating generation system in terms of annual costs for heating in almost all the scenarios considered and also showed an important reduction in building thermal energy demand if the set-point temperature was reduced, even by 1 °C. Full article
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