OCCUPANT MOVEMENT AND THE THERMAL MODELING OF BUILDINGS

Conventional computer models of the thermal transfer processes and energy consumption of buildings treat occupants as little more than fixed metabolic heat generators impassively experiencing the prevailing indoor environment. However, occupants do move around inside spaces and may experience several thermal environments within the same space. The computer model FENESTRA has been developed to include mobile occupants: their thermal comfort and the consequences for energy consumption. The model predicts that a mobile occupant can experience improved thermal comfort compared to an occupant fixed at the centre of the same space. Implications for both the size of cooling plant and thermostat settings for cooling are discussed. Finally, FENESTRA modelling provides testable hypotheses regarding occupant movement within spaces. If such tests were to be performed they could be used to validate and improve the FENESTRA model itself.