Investigating strategies to be future-climate ready: A case of dwelling for low-income older people
Date
2024
Authors
Soebarto, V.
Le, H.T.
Arakawa Martins, L.
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Conference paper
Citation
Proceedings of the 56th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA 2023) : Sustainability and Health: the nexus of carbon neutral architecture and well-being, 2024, pp.434-447
Statement of Responsibility
Veronica Soebarto, Ha Thanh Le, Larissa Arakawa Martins
Conference Name
56th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA) (29 Nov 2023 - 2 Dec 2023 : University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia)
Abstract
Recent studies have discovered that many people in Australia live in cold homes but also in homes that become extremely hot in summer. The dwellings can only become comfortable with heating and cooling; however, not all occupants use air-conditioning due to cost implications, worsened in recent years due to increasing energy prices. Extremely cold or hot indoor environment and a total reliance on air-conditioning indicate poor design that should be urgently addressed not just in new but also existing homes as poor thermal environment is linked with poor health/wellbeing outcomes. Addressing this problem becomes more critical in older people’s housing, because as people age, they become more vulnerable to poor indoor environment. The warming climates further highlight the need to address this issue now. This paper presents a preliminary study of investigating the current thermal performance of an existing dwelling of an older occupant using building monitoring and simulation where the model was calibrated to measured data. The calibrated model was then used to predict the dwelling’s performance in 2030 and 2050. To improve resilience of this dwelling in future climates, strategies were investigated, including those of low cost as well as more substantial changes such as installing double glazing and changing the floor construction. The results indicate that passive design strategies already known for years, such as thermal mass, shading and reducing leakage, will increase the chance of the dwellings to be comfortable without heavy reliance on heating/cooling even in future climates, but these are often absent in current housing developments.
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© 2023 and published by The Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA).