Occupant performance and building energy consumption with different philosophies of determining acceptable thermal conditions

Based on building energy and indoor environment simulations, this study uses a recently developed method relying on Bayesian Network theory to estimate and compare the consequences for occupant performance and energy consumption of applying temperature criteria set according to the adaptive model of thermal comfort and the more conventional PMV model.

Simulations were carried out for an example building with two configurations (with and without mechanical cooling) located in tropical, subtropical, and temperate climate regions. Even though indoor temperatures differed significantly between building configurations, especially in the tropical climate, the estimated performance differed only modestly between configurations.

However, energy consumption was always lower in buildings without mechanical cooling, particularly so in the tropical climate. The findings indicate that determining acceptable indoor thermal environments with the adaptive comfort model may result in significant energy savings and at the same time will not have large consequences for the mental performance of occupants.