Method for including the economic value of indoor climate as design criterion in optimisation of office building design

Abstract

Several studies have indicated that work performance can be used as an indicator that articulates the relation between humans and indoor climate in office buildings. But does this knowledge affect the optimal office building design? This paper presents a method for simulation-based investigations on the extent to which optimisation of the relation between indoor climate (whole-body thermal comfort and perceived air quality) and productivity, instead of – or in combination with – comfort based acceptance criteria, affect the cost-optimal design of office buildings. For this purpose, a single-objective optimisation problem was formulated and a calculation procedure was proposed. The results of a retrofit case study indicate that energy use and productivity loss can be reduced if building designers optimise with respect to productivity instead of comfort based constraints. Optimising productivity while respecting comfort based constraints led to a less but still profitable solution. The composition of an economic optimal retrofit solution thereby strongly depends on whether the building owner is willing to put an economic value on the effect of the retrofit solution on comfort and/or the relation between indoor climate and productivity.