Residents' thermal comfort and energy performance of a single-family house in Poland: a parametric study

Abstract

Building energy and environmental efficiency is presently one of the most important research subjects due to global climate change and the actual geopolitical situation. Residential buildings should provide a comfortable environment for the occupants while they spend up to 90% of their life indoors. Moreover, a comfortable indoor environment should be provided efficiently and affordably. Thus, the examination of the correlated factors of buildings' energy efficiency and occupants' comfort is highly anticipated. This field can be analyzed using various methods, where computational simulations are the most comprehensive technique. Unfortunately, buildings' simulated energy demands usually differ from the actual use. There are numerous uncertainties impacting buildings' energy demand, likewise, those parameters are usually strongly correlated. Therefore, parametric analyses are a valuable approach allowing us better understanding of various phenomena occurring in buildings. This article shows some preliminary results of the case study analysis for a residential building in Poland examining the impact of residents' thermal comfort on the buildings' energy performance. This study will be continued and expanded to fully understand the occupants' behavior impact on building energy performance. Studies like this are helpful for future building design, following the paradigm of sustainable development.