Improving comfort conditions as an energy upgrade tool for housing stock: analysis of a house prototype

Abstract

Given the role of the building sector as one of the current main causes of pollution in cities, the promotion of research on energy efficiency and sustainable strategies is key. At the Solar Decathlon international competition, different university teams design optimized energy-efficient and prefabricated houses, integrating passive and active solutions to achieve the best environmental and energy performance. This study analyses hygrothermal and air quality comfort conditions through a real-scale housing prototype developed by the University of Seville; this is then compared with the more widely used solely energy-related assessment. Different environmental variables (temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentrations and electricity consumption) were monitored during the competition. The aim was to provide useful information to optimize building performance at the design stage, minimizing the performance gap prior to its implementation on a district scale. Results show that the strategies implemented in the prototype developed provided the best comfort conditions for the longest periods of time, resulting in zero energy consumption during passive days and approximately 50 kWh during active days. Steady-state comfort conditions were achieved in around 45 % of the hours. However, adaptive comfort conditions, which are more closely linked to the level of tolerance and socio-cultural conditions, were met in approximately 80 % of the hours.