The Significance of the Adaptive Thermal Comfort Limits on the Air-Conditioning Loads in a Temperate Climate

Aiman Albatayneh, Dariusz Alterman, Adrian Page and Behdad Moghtaderi
Additional contact information
Aiman Albatayneh: School of Natural Resources Engineering and Management, German Jordanian University, P.O. Box 35247, Amman 11180, Jordan
Dariusz Alterman: Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies and Utilization, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Adrian Page: Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies and Utilization, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Behdad Moghtaderi: Priority Research Centre for Frontier Energy Technologies and Utilization, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: The building industry is regarded a major contributor to climate change as energy consumption from buildings accounts for 40% of the total energy. The types of thermal comfort models used to predict the heating and cooling loads are critical to save energy in operative buildings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). In this research, the internal air temperatures were recorded for over one year under the free floating mode with no heating or cooling, then the number of hours required for heating or cooling were calculated based on fixed sets of operative temperatures (18 °C–24 °C) and the adaptive thermal comfort model to estimate the number of hours per year required for cooling and heating to sustain the occupants’ thermal comfort for four full-scale housing test modules at the campus of the University of Newcastle, Australia. The adaptive thermal comfort model significantly reduced the time necessary for mechanical cooling and heating by more than half when compared with the constant thermostat setting used by the air-conditioning systems installed on the site. It was found that the air-conditioning system with operational temperature setups using the adaptive thermal comfort model at 80% acceptability limits required almost half the operating energy when compared with fixed sets of operating temperatures. This can be achieved by applying a broader range of acceptable temperature limits and using techniques that require minimal energy to sustain the occupants’ thermal comfort.

Keywords: energy efficiency; adaptive thermal comfort; air-conditioning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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