Adaptive Thermal Comfort Principles And Practice

Download or read book Adaptive Thermal Comfort: Principles and Practice written by Fergus Nicol and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fundamental function of buildings is to provide safe and healthy shelter. For the fortunate they also provide comfort and delight. In the twentieth century comfort became a 'product' produced by machines and run on cheap energy. In a world where fossil fuels are becoming ever scarcer and more expensive, and the climate more extreme, the challenge of designing comfortable buildings today requires a new approach. This timely book is the first in a trilogy from leaders in the field which will provide just that. It explains, in a clear and comprehensible manner, how we stay comfortable by using our bodies, minds, buildings and their systems to adapt to indoor and outdoor conditions which change with the weather and the climate. The book is in two sections. The first introduces the principles on which the theory of adaptive thermal comfort is based. The second explains how to use field studies to measure thermal comfort in practice and to analyze the data gathered. Architects have gradually passed responsibility for building performance to service engineers who are largely trained to see comfort as the ‘product’, designed using simplistic comfort models. The result has contributed to a shift to buildings that use ever more energy. A growing international consensus now calls for low-energy buildings. This means designers must first produce robust, passive structures that provide occupants with many opportunities to make changes to suit their environmental needs. Ventilation using free, natural energy should be preferred and mechanical conditioning only used when the climate demands it. This book outlines the theory of adaptive thermal comfort that is essential to understand and inform such building designs. This book should be required reading for all students, teachers and practitioners of architecture, building engineering and management – for all who have a role in producing, and occupying, twenty-first century adaptive, low-carbon, comfortable buildings.

Download or read book Adaptive Thermal Comfort: Principles and Practice written by Fergus Nicol and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fundamental function of buildings is to provide safe and healthy shelter. For the fortunate they also provide comfort and delight. In the twentieth century comfort became a 'product' produced by machines and run on cheap energy. In a world where fossil fuels are becoming ever scarcer and more expensive, and the climate more extreme, the challenge of designing comfortable buildings today requires a new approach. This timely book is the first in a trilogy from leaders in the field which will provide just that. It explains, in a clear and comprehensible manner, how we stay comfortable by using our bodies, minds, buildings and their systems to adapt to indoor and outdoor conditions which change with the weather and the climate. The book is in two sections. The first introduces the principles on which the theory of adaptive thermal comfort is based. The second explains how to use field studies to measure thermal comfort in practice and to analyze the data gathered. Architects have gradually passed responsibility for building performance to service engineers who are largely trained to see comfort as the ‘product’, designed using simplistic comfort models. The result has contributed to a shift to buildings that use ever more energy. A growing international consensus now calls for low-energy buildings. This means designers must first produce robust, passive structures that provide occupants with many opportunities to make changes to suit their environmental needs. Ventilation using free, natural energy should be preferred and mechanical conditioning only used when the climate demands it. This book outlines the theory of adaptive thermal comfort that is essential to understand and inform such building designs. This book should be required reading for all students, teachers and practitioners of architecture, building engineering and management – for all who have a role in producing, and occupying, twenty-first century adaptive, low-carbon, comfortable buildings.

Download or read book Adaptive Thermal Comfort: Foundations and Analysis written by Michael Humphreys and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-27 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been widespread dissatisfaction with accepted models for predicting the conditions that people will find thermally comfortable in buildings. These models require knowledge about clothing and activity, but can give little guidance on how to quantify them in any future situation. This has forced designers to make assumptions about people’s future behaviour based on very little information and, as a result, encouraged static design indoor temperatures. This book is the second in a three volume set covering all aspects of Adaptive Thermal Comfort. The first part narrates the development of the adaptive approach to thermal comfort from its early beginnings in the 1960s. It discusses recent work in the field and suggests ways in which it can be developed and modelled. Such models can be used to set dynamic, interactive standards for thermal comfort which will help overcome the problems inherited from the past. The second part of the volume engages with the practical and theoretical problems encountered in field studies and in their statistical analysis, providing guidance towards their resolution, so that valid conclusions may be drawn from such studies.

Download or read book Human Thermal Environments written by Ken Parsons and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2007-03-22 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our responses to our thermal environment have a considerable effect on our performance and behavior, not least in the realm of work. There has been considerable scientific investigation of these responses and formal methods have been developed for environmental evaluation and design. In recent years these have been developed to the extent that detailed national and international standards of practice have now become feasible. This new edition of Ken Parson's definitive text brings us back up to date. He covers hot, moderate and cold environments, and defines these in terms of six basic parameters: air temperature, radiate temperature, humidity, air velocity, clothing worn, and the person's activity. There is a focus on the principles and practice of human response, which incorporates psychology, physiology and environmental physics with applied ergonomics. Water requirements, computer modeling and computer-aided design are brought in, as are current standards. Special populations, such as the aged or disabled and specialist environments such as those found in vehicles are also considered. This book continues to be the standard text for the design of environments for humans to live and work safely, comfortably and effectively, and for the design of materials which help the same people cope with their environments.

Download or read book Seaside Building Design: Principles and Practice written by Ali Sayigh and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-01-28 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This one of a kind reference gathers numerous new studies examining the design of buildings in seaside locations. Chapters discuss design for various locations and seaside climates and include information regarding climate, materials, concepts of cooling and heating, vegetation and micro-climate, and weather conditions and sustainability. This book provides architects, engineers, builders, and students with design examples and applications that will enable them to design and build comfortable, cost-effective and sustainable buildings in maritime zones.

Download or read book Ecohouse: A Design Guide written by Christoper Day and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-08-15 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecohouse is an exciting and timely text that tells you how to design low energy, environmentally friendly buildings today. It also provides the foundations for building design in a warming world, and stepping stones towards the zero-carbon emission buildings of tomorrow. Sue Roaf is famed for her approach to design and her awareness of energy efficiency. Here she reveals the concepts, structures and techniques that lie behind the realization of her ideals. By using her own house as a case-study Roaf guides the reader through the ideas for energy efficient design or 'eco design'. This guide to the ecohouse also explores 21 case-studies from around the world, from Norway and Sweden to India and Japan, Argentina and Mexico. Chapters by Christopher Day, Katerine Bohn and Andre Viljoen on ecological building materials and methods and a contribution by Robert and Brenda Vale - all experts in this field Ecohouse has a regularly updated companion web site providing further information on all issues relating to Ecohouse and eco design. Log on to www.bh.com/companions/ecohouse for a direct link.

Download or read book Standards for Thermal Comfort written by M. Humphreys and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current Standards for Indoor Air Temperature are inappropriate in many regions of the world. This forces designers to use highly serviced buildings to achieve air temperatures that accord with the standards to the detriment of the local and global environment. Standards for Thermal Comfort brings together contributions from around the world, reflecting new approaches to the setting of standards which can apply to all climates and cultures.