Extract

It is commonly assumed that high levels of occupant comfort and energy efficiency are mutually exclusive. To challenge this misconception and to demonstrate that it is possible to maintain comfort without increasing energy use, a case study was carried out in an exemplary low energy building in Australia. This study was performed under the umbrella of the International Energy Agency’s Energy in Buildings and Community Programme (IEA-EBC) Annex 69 – Strategy and
practice of adaptive thermal comfort in low energy buildings. Longitudinal field observations were made for eleven months between 2017 and 2018, through instrumental indoor climate measurements (temperature, humidity and airspeed) and the collection of building operational data (operation of HVAC and windows), coupled with right-here-right-now occupant comfort surveys delivered to the participant’s smartphones. Time-and-place matching of the collected objective and subjective data enabled the quantitative analysis of the relationship between building operational decisions, climatic factors, and occupants’ perception of comfort.

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