A Healthy, Energy-Efficient and Comfortable Indoor Environment, a Review

Paulína Šujanová, Monika Rychtáriková, Tiago Sotto Mayor and Affan Hyder
Additional contact information
Paulína Šujanová: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Radlinského 11, 810 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
Monika Rychtáriková: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Radlinského 11, 810 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
Tiago Sotto Mayor: Transport Phenomena Research Centre, Engineering Faculty of Porto University, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Affan Hyder: Vesalius College Brussels, Boulevard de la Plaine 5, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-37

Abstract: Design strategies for sustainable buildings, that improve building performance and avoid extensive resource utilization, should also promote healthy indoor environments. The following paper contains a review of the couplings between (1) building design, (2) indoor environmental quality and (3) occupant behavior. The paper focuses on defining the limits of adaptation on the three aforementioned levels to ensure the energy efficiency of the whole system and healthy environments. The adaptation limits are described for measurable physical parameters and the relevant responsible human sensory systems, evaluating thermal comfort, visual comfort, indoor air quality and acoustical quality. The goal is to describe the interactions between the three levels where none is a passive participant, but rather an active agent of a wider human-built environment system. The conclusions are drawn in regard to the comfort of the occupant. The study reviews more than 300 sources, ranging from journals, books, conference proceedings, and reports complemented by a review of standards and directives.

Keywords: indoor environment quality; occupant comfort; building climate control; healthy building; energy efficiency; adaptability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/8/1414/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/8/1414/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:8:p:1414-:d:222232

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().