Self-evaluated thermal comfort compared to measured temperatures during summer in three active houses where ventilative cooling is applied

The thermal comfort of the residential buildings Sunlighthouse in Austria and LichtAktiv Haus in Germany are investigated with a particular focus on the summer situation and the role of solar shading and natural ventilation. The houses have generous daylight conditions, and are designed to be CO2 neutral with a good indoor environment. The thermal environment is evaluated according to the Active House specification (based on the adaptive method of EN 15251), and it is found that the houses achieve category 1 for the summer situation. It is found that ventilative cooling through window openings play a particularly important role in maintaining thermal comfort in the houses and that both window openings and external solar shading is used frequently. The occupants have reported their thermal sensation daily during most of a one-year period. The thermal sensation votes show good correlation with the thermal comfort category.