Human Thermal Comfort /Building Site Location

1. Human Thermal Comfort /Building Site Location

2. Human Comfort • Energy-efficient buildings are only effective when the occupants are comfortable • If not they will take alternative means to heating/cooling the space • Space heaters, window mounted air conditioners • Could be substantially worse than typical heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC)

3. Thermal Comfort • Difficult to measure since it is so subjective • Depends on air temp, humidity, radiant temp, air speeds, activity rate, clothing • Temp of the skin is not uniform on all areas of the body • Variations which reflect the variations in blood flow and subcutaneous fat • Insulative quality of clothing has an effect as well • Sensation from any particular part will depend on time, location, clothing and temp of surroundings

4. Building Site Location • Whether or not a building is net zero energy, part of its sustainability is related to its land use • Converting wild lands/farmlands into building sites is unsustainable • Lots of land near or in cities that can be redeveloped

5. Greenfield/Greyfield/Brownfield • Sites that have not been built on before are greenfield sites • Best left unbuilt • Impact to these sites can be mitigated by having a small building/hardscape footprint, and covering the buildings or hardscape with vegetated roofs, especially local native plant species

6. Greenfield/Greyfield/Brownfield • Sites that have been built on are greyfeild • Building on these lands avoids destruction of wild lands/farmlands • Benefits them, make neighborhoods more vibrant, walkable and cost effective to provide transport to • Polluted sites from development or industry are called brownfield sites • Try to clean these up and redevelop them

7. Site Accessibility • Along with building energy being one of the biggest sources of pollution, cars are another huge source • Choose a site that is easily accessible by foot, bicycle or public transit to reduce the impact

8. Site Surroundings • Can change the effective weather patters • Nearby buildings or trees can block sunlight and/or change wind patters • Take into account surrounding buildings • How the affect your design • What passive strategies to rely on

9. Right to Light and Solar Envelopes • Important when building in urban environments • Zoning requirements may be in place to preserve solar access • Too dense or tall buildings will limit access to daylighting and solar radiation • Solar envelop regulates the development within imaginary boundaries • Helps so you do not overshadow the surroundings

10. Daylighting Envelope • Greatest volume you can build on the site while still giving the neighboring building access to daylight • Based on the entire sky dome and assume an overcast sky

11. Wind • Other buildings and surroundings can also block access to the wind • On the other hand you may find a site that gets too much wind • Use vegetation to block the wind • Place vegetative sheltering 3 – 4x the height of the building from the building • Provides wind shelter but allows solar radiation access