title: “Comfort” description: “There are standards that quantify comfort and the inputs used to calculate the environmental parameters that would lead ” pubDate: 2015-05-07 tags:
- Building Science
- Philosophy
- Technology
There are standards that quantify comfort and the inputs used to calculate the environmental parameters that would lead most people to consider a space comfortable. Energy efficiency is easy. There is an answer somewhere out there as to how much energy was consumed. The validation dataset is easy to gather, so to speak. But what dataset is needed to validate the risk of a callback, or the potential for a comfortable environment? Should we adopt a standard for deemed comfort? Should we provide a standard measurement process for determining whether a space is legally comfortable? Should regulation be involved at all? The question of comfort is nuanced and individual, and difficult to quantify for any given person. The current metrics acknowledge this fact. Predicted mean vote, for example, estimates the conditions needed to satisfy most people, not all.
Comfort from the perspective of a builder comes down to risk: the risk they will have a complaint that will require action to resolve a comfort issue with the home-owner. Some builders provide guarantees, which with good metrics and modelling will prove easier for them. Ideally we will provide a condition where a builder is not taking a risk and that they will know the likelihood their home will be as its intended to be—comfortable.
Quantifying risk requires an understanding of the distribution of inputs to a particular measurement or prediction, such as the likelihood a home-owner will call back, or the percentage of time all points of a room will be within a standardized comfort zone. What environmental conditions in the home caused them to feel uncomfortable? Was it a hot room? Cold room? The homes climate control system led to the specific thermal characteristics of the air and surfaces that led to a comfort issue.
There are times where the occupant will have created the conditions that caused a period of time to be called uncomfortable. Certain events, such as a front door opening, will have brought the outside air in which may be considered bad from a comfort perspective. For example, in small restaurants owners will often install vestibules to temper the potentially night ruining cadence of cold air from other patrons entering and exiting. Homes have different requirements for mitigating comfort issues caused by events. Multi-family, for example may have unique set of events that need to be mitigated because other people’s comfort is at stake. When the comfort of other, non-related occupants is at stake, events need to be mitigated and zoned.