Automated natural ventilation and lighting strategy for a residential building under extreme hot weather

Automated control systems, intelligent HVAC and smart lighting can help reduce the energy consumption of the buildings and improve the thermal comfort conditions of the occupants. This study considers a typical detached residential building in the United Kingdom and examines the effect of an automated natural ventilation and lighting strategy on the energy consumption of the building and the thermal comfort of the occupants. For the purpose of this study the windows of two bedrooms of the examined building are modelled with a temperature-based control function and appropriate target illuminance levels have been set to control the lighting. This paper examines the week with the higher external temperature and uses dynamic thermal simulations in order to assess the performance of the building. Simulations are performed with EDSL TAS software using the latest Design Summer Year (DSY) weather files from CIBSE. Results of the simulations show that an automated window opening system can reduce the operative temperatures up to 4°C, improve thermal comfort conditions and reduce lighting gains by 49%.