Abstract
The design and construction of buildings is currently subject to a growing set of requirements concerning sustainability and energy efficiency. This paper shows a case study of the Torre Sevilla skyscraper, located in the city of Seville (in the south of Spain), which has high-tech energy-efficient features and which uses air-conditioning systems during most of its operating hours. The analysis carried out starts from a simulation in which occupants’ thermal comfort are obtained, based on the adaptive comfort model defined in the standard EN 15251:2007. With this approach, it is possible to determine the number of hours during operation in which the building has adequate comfort conditions only with the help of the envelope and natural ventilation. Consequently, the remaining useful hours require the use of air-conditioning systems. The results show that it is possible to improve the thermal performance of the building due to its location in the Mediterranean climate. To do this, advanced mixed mode (through manual-opening or mechanically-controlled opening windows) and active air-conditioning are suggested. This experimental proposal provides a reduction of the occupation hours which require the use of air-conditioning equipment by 28.57%, reducing the air-conditioning demand and, consequently, the energy consumption of the building.
Highlights
It is known that the indoor environment of a building affects the health, productivity, and comfort of the occupants, so thermal comfort has been studied by many researchers for decades.There are various authors who set the basis for a bioclimatic approach to buildings’ design by incorporating principles of sustainable design to control the indoor climate and improve building functionality [1,2]
Hellwing et al [9] showed that the satisfaction concerning thermal comfort is higher in office buildings in which a natural ventilation system is included, with respect to buildings with only mechanical ventilation., Research by Baker et al [6] revealed that those buildings where the occupants have control over the ventilation system and can adapt the indoor environment to meet their daily needs show a higher index of ventilation and mechanical air-conditioning is the best solution to achieve an optimal performance of cooling and heating systems, as well as having a higher energy efficiency and best thermal comfort
After a simulation strategy focused on indoor thermal comfort, it is concluded that, due to the fact that the building is designed in order to compulsorily guarantee comfort having its own air-conditioning systems, their use during 75.79% of the occupation hours in room R01 and 70.55% for room R02 is required in the initial configuration
Summary
It is known that the indoor environment of a building affects the health, productivity, and comfort of the occupants, so thermal comfort has been studied by many researchers for decades.There are various authors who set the basis for a bioclimatic approach to buildings’ design by incorporating principles of sustainable design to control the indoor climate and improve building functionality [1,2]. Fanger’s research defined two main indices in the analysis of occupants’ comfort: PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PPD (Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied) [3] Both these indexes are the basis for the subsequent development of the two most extended models of thermal comfort: steady-state models, based on more traditional aspects, and adaptive models, which provide a more current approach [4]. It is a steady-state model resulting from research in thermal chambers, and is only applicable to people exposed to a long period of constant conditions These reasons, along with others, have led to there being authors in the research community who question its predictive capacity, suggesting other models instead, such as the adaptive comfort models [5]
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