field studies

The world is facing a rapid increase of air conditioning of buildings. This is being driven by multiple factors, such as urbanization and densification, climate change and elevated comfort expectations as well as economic growth in hot and densely populated regions of the world. The trend toward cooling seems inexorable. It is imperative to steer this development towards sustainable solutions. 

This IEA Annex 80 Subtask C report and the associated brochures provide examples of well-documented field studies. These field studies apply resilient cooling technologies to reduce energy demand and carbon emissions for cooling and reduce the overheating risk in different types of buildings, including newly constructed and existing buildings. Examples and details on building information, energy systems, resilient cooling technologies, key performance indicators (KPIs), and performance evaluation and lessons learned are included in the report and the brochures.

Field studies have been carried out in selected Prayer Halls to address the research questions namely the impact of air conditioning on comfort of women versus men as well as on general members versus older members of a congregation, who follow universally adopted standard proceedings, and hold prayer meetings every morning from 3.30 am to 5.30 am and every evening from around 7 pm to 9 pm.  Comfort evaluations were carried out in three cities - two of which are presented here.

This article presents the results of a thermal comfort investigation carried out in a residential gated community located in a hot-humid climate.  The study comprises of real-time field monitoring of thermal comfort in representative apartment units and assessment of the utility and cooling energy consumption in these residences.  Utility energy consumption data of the residences for one year period was obtained and a survey was administered to identify the trend of air-conditioner use.  The results are summarized and used to validate a simulation model.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of measuring position of air-tightness performance in Flat-type and Tower-type apartments. Air-tightness performance was measured on entrance doors using the Blower Door System in accordance with CAN/CGSB 149 and on the windows using air-tightness Measuring (KNS-serise) in accordance with JIS A 2201. The air-tightness test was performed with newly builted apartments in 2011. The air-tightness test results on location were converted into ACH50 for comparison.