Indoor Climate Monitoring in Office Buildings—Comparative Analysis of Two Office Buildings without Air Conditioning
Against the background of climate protection and the rising costs of a fossil-fuel-based energy supply, the interest in the energy performance and indoor climate of buildings in real operation is rising. This paper, therefore, deals with the indoor climate investigation of two medium-sized office bu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/19/6790 |
| _version_ | 1797575946297933824 |
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| author | Karsten Voss Tjado Voß Marvin Kaliga |
| author_facet | Karsten Voss Tjado Voß Marvin Kaliga |
| author_sort | Karsten Voss |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Against the background of climate protection and the rising costs of a fossil-fuel-based energy supply, the interest in the energy performance and indoor climate of buildings in real operation is rising. This paper, therefore, deals with the indoor climate investigation of two medium-sized office buildings in Germany by taking measurements over a whole year. These relate to one new building and one refurbished building. Sensors of various types were installed and operated in a large number of office rooms, so that in total results are available for over 100 rooms, typically occupied by one or two persons. The analysis focuses on the indoor temperature in summer and the air quality in winter based on the CO<sub>2</sub> concentration. The comfort classes according to DIN EN 16798 including the adaptive comfort approach are used as a basis to cluster the results. Both buildings have movable sun protection and openable windows but no facilities for active cooling. They, thus, represent a large number of existing ‘low tech’ office buildings in Germany and central Europe. The results reflect the respective building concepts but also show a wide range between the rooms due to the user preferences and behaviour. The refurbished building shows better results, especially in terms of air quality but also in terms of summer room temperatures. This underlines the benefit of the targeted measures as a result of an analysis of the deficits in the existing building before the refurbishment. The additional measures for decentralised mechanical ventilation and passive cooling are having positive effects. As part of the projects, further measures to improve the indoor climate were investigated in both buildings. In one case, this involved CO<sub>2</sub> traffic lights to stimulate personal window ventilation in winter, and in the other, the use of newly developed individual ceiling fans supports convective heat dissipation on the human body during hot spells in summer. The positive effect could be demonstrated for both measures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T21:45:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3e2b3d0bd395405f8462b01e945e4007 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T21:45:33Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-3e2b3d0bd395405f8462b01e945e40072023-11-19T14:18:56ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732023-09-011619679010.3390/en16196790Indoor Climate Monitoring in Office Buildings—Comparative Analysis of Two Office Buildings without Air ConditioningKarsten Voss0Tjado Voß1Marvin Kaliga2Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Wuppertal, Pauluskirchstr. 7, D-42285 Wuppertal, GermanyFaculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Wuppertal, Pauluskirchstr. 7, D-42285 Wuppertal, GermanyFaculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Wuppertal, Pauluskirchstr. 7, D-42285 Wuppertal, GermanyAgainst the background of climate protection and the rising costs of a fossil-fuel-based energy supply, the interest in the energy performance and indoor climate of buildings in real operation is rising. This paper, therefore, deals with the indoor climate investigation of two medium-sized office buildings in Germany by taking measurements over a whole year. These relate to one new building and one refurbished building. Sensors of various types were installed and operated in a large number of office rooms, so that in total results are available for over 100 rooms, typically occupied by one or two persons. The analysis focuses on the indoor temperature in summer and the air quality in winter based on the CO<sub>2</sub> concentration. The comfort classes according to DIN EN 16798 including the adaptive comfort approach are used as a basis to cluster the results. Both buildings have movable sun protection and openable windows but no facilities for active cooling. They, thus, represent a large number of existing ‘low tech’ office buildings in Germany and central Europe. The results reflect the respective building concepts but also show a wide range between the rooms due to the user preferences and behaviour. The refurbished building shows better results, especially in terms of air quality but also in terms of summer room temperatures. This underlines the benefit of the targeted measures as a result of an analysis of the deficits in the existing building before the refurbishment. The additional measures for decentralised mechanical ventilation and passive cooling are having positive effects. As part of the projects, further measures to improve the indoor climate were investigated in both buildings. In one case, this involved CO<sub>2</sub> traffic lights to stimulate personal window ventilation in winter, and in the other, the use of newly developed individual ceiling fans supports convective heat dissipation on the human body during hot spells in summer. The positive effect could be demonstrated for both measures.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/19/6790thermal comfortindoor air qualitypassive coolingceiling fansmonitoringcommercial buildings |
| spellingShingle | Karsten Voss Tjado Voß Marvin Kaliga Indoor Climate Monitoring in Office Buildings—Comparative Analysis of Two Office Buildings without Air Conditioning Energies thermal comfort indoor air quality passive cooling ceiling fans monitoring commercial buildings |
| title | Indoor Climate Monitoring in Office Buildings—Comparative Analysis of Two Office Buildings without Air Conditioning |
| title_full | Indoor Climate Monitoring in Office Buildings—Comparative Analysis of Two Office Buildings without Air Conditioning |
| title_fullStr | Indoor Climate Monitoring in Office Buildings—Comparative Analysis of Two Office Buildings without Air Conditioning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Indoor Climate Monitoring in Office Buildings—Comparative Analysis of Two Office Buildings without Air Conditioning |
| title_short | Indoor Climate Monitoring in Office Buildings—Comparative Analysis of Two Office Buildings without Air Conditioning |
| title_sort | indoor climate monitoring in office buildings comparative analysis of two office buildings without air conditioning |
| topic | thermal comfort indoor air quality passive cooling ceiling fans monitoring commercial buildings |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/19/6790 |
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