Thermal Habitability Monitoring in Housing for Low-Income Families in Extreme Warm, Dry Weather

Abstract

As of 2002, government policies regarding housing promoted mass construction and focused on housing for low-income families. In cities with hot-dry weather extremes, such as Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, these types of houses cause problems related to the housing’s physical dimensions, architectural design, and lack of adaptation to climate building systems that did not provide adequate thermal comfort conditions. The aim of this chapter is to present a comparative study of thermal performance of a bioclimatic model of affordable housing and a commercial housing model. The study was made through a longitudinal monitoring of the external and internal conditions of the two models. With the database obtained, regression analyses were performed. Based on measured data, predictive models for both homes were created. The results obtained support the construction of homes with better thermal conditions and present the possibility of improving inhabitants’ quality of life.