On the effectiveness of passive controls for summer thermal comfort in highly insulated dwellings

Among environmental controls, solar shading and ventilative cooling are widely considered as key passive strategies for limiting the overheating risks in buildings. While their application is encouraged through Energy Performance of Buildings Directive regulations, several studies have shown that summer thermal comfort in heating-dominate...

Indoor Summer Thermal Comfort in a Changing Climate: The Case of a Nearly Zero Energy House in Wallonia (Belgium)

While the potential impact of climate change mitigation measures is well documented in building sciences literature, there are only relatively sparse studies focusing on the efficiency of adaptation strategies. This paper aims to contribute to this topic by evaluating the extent to which the design of a typical nearly Zero Energy Buildling (nZEB...

Long-term evaluation of residential summer thermal comfort: Measured vs. perceived thermal conditions in nZEB houses in Wallonia

In a context of global warming, summer thermal comfort is a key issue for the design and operation of nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEBs). Although there are various methods and benchmarks for the long-term evaluation of summer thermal conditions in free-running buildings, their application to the residential sector is still debated. Based...

Ten questions concerning well-being in the built environment

Well-being in the built environment is a topic that features frequently in building standards and certification schemes, in scholarly articles and in the general press. However, despite this surge in attention, there are still many questions on how to effectively design, measure, and nurture well-being in the built environment. Bringing together...