Simulation-based trade-off modeling for indoor infection risk of airborne diseases, energy consumption, and thermal comfort

Abstract

The transmission of airborne diseases indoors represents a significant challenge to public health. While enhancing ventilation can mitigate infection risks, it simultaneously escalates building energy consumption and alters human thermal comfort. There is limited understanding about the intricate interplay among 1) human health measured as exposure to pathogens and infection risk, 2) building energy consumption as a result of different heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) control strategies, and 3) human thermal comfort in different climate zones. This research developed a modeling framework to evaluate the trade-offs among health, energy, and human thermal comfort and conducted simulations using school building data, considering a variety of parameters in temperature, humidity, and ventilation control. Key findings revealed that indoor temperature profoundly influences infection risk, energy consumption, and thermal comfort. Ventilation rate governs the variations of infection risks and building energy usage, while indoor relative humidity demonstrated negligible impacts. Notably, thermal comfort and low infection risk can be concurrently realized, albeit at the expense of high energy consumption. Comparing the optimal and worst environment settings in a typical U.S. climate zone, a 43% decrease in infection risks and a 61% increase in thermal comfort are observed, accompanied by an over 70% increase in energy consumption. The influences and trade-offs among infection risks, energy consumption, and thermal comfort are additionally modulated by climate characteristics.