Occupant comfort analysis of an educational building located in warm-humid tropical climate

Abstract

In this modern era, the demand for electrical energy is increasing drastically in accordance with time. This increasing demand is not met by the present day generation, creating an energy shortage in the Indian power system. Hence, it is the hour to think for an immediate strategy to preserve energy for the future. Also every kind of energy use applications in a building are primarily meant for providing comfort to its occupants. A proper energy audit in the existing buildings and implementing corrective actions so as to reduce the energy consumption is one of the important measure to cop up with the increasing energy demand. Occupant comfort is one of the major criteria that is to be assessed for rating a building. Visual comfort and thermal comfort are important while considering the occupant comfort. Lighting and cooling are the important energy consuming sectors to be considered in a building located in an area having hot and humid tropical climate. This paper presents the analysis of visual comfort and thermal comfort in a typical educational building complex located in hot and humid climate zone. The results obtained as a part of the energy audit conducted for the building complex are studied on the basis of different standards.