Abstract
In the present work, we analyze the influence of the designer’s choice of values for the human metabolic index (met) and insulation by clothing (clo) that can be selected within the ISO 7730 for the calculation of the energy demand of buildings. To this aim, we first numerically modeled, using TRNSYS, two buildings in different countries and climatologies. Then, we consistently validated our simulations by predicting indoor temperatures and comparing them with measured data. After that, the energy demand of both buildings was obtained. Subsequently, the variability of the set-point temperature concerning the choice of clo and met, within limits prescribed in ISO 7730, was analyzed using a Monte Carlo method. This variability of the interior comfort conditions has been finally used in the numerical model previously validated, to calculate the changes in the energy demand of the two buildings. Therefore, this work demonstrated that the diversity of possibilities offered by ISO 7730 for the choice of clo and met results, depending on the values chosen by the designer, in significant differences in indoor comfort conditions, leading to non-negligible changes in the calculations of energy consumption, especially in the case of big buildings.
Highlights
We precisely focus on ISO 7730, which is the mandatory standard in Europe
We will show the verification of the monitoring using the data from Equs and the TRNSYS simulation of each building
This work joins Building Information Modeling (BIM)-based energy simulations and sensitivity analysis (SA) of two non-residential buildings in two seasons under the international standard ISO 7730. This norm has been studied in previous papers from different perspectives: the effect of personal factors in comfort assessment [80], energy simulation [27], thermal comfort in outdoor urban spaces [81] or the validity of ISO-predicted mean vote (PMV) for predicting comfort votes in everyday thermal environments [82], among others
Summary
The building envelope is the interface between the outdoor environment and the interior of buildings and its primary function is to act as a physical barrier to offer a comfortable place to develop different activities, in exchange for a certain demand for energy [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Power consumption in buildings is one of the leading causes, among other adverse effects, of ozone layer depletion, global warming, and climate change [11,12]. Thermal comfort is one of the most important elements in the relationship with the estimation of indoor environment quality, and it has been defined in parallel by ASHRAE
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