Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

Abstract:
Most public buildings depend on non-renewable energy for provision of indoor physiological comfort because they are not climate responsive. Climate and passive design parameters that interact to provide endo-climate within which man experiences a thermal environment peculiar to the occupied space were discussed. It went further to assess the design of the selected public-buildings for comfort using the recommendation obtained from Mahoney analysis. It was revealed that greater percentage of the public buildings did not satisfy the recommendation of the Mahoney analysis. The results showed that 42.22% of the selected public buildings were oriented East-West while 24.44% satisfied the Mahoney?s recommendation of 40 - 80% opening on West-South walls for effective thermal and visual comfort. Furthermore, 33.33% and 62.22% of the public buildings satisfied Chand?s recommendations of 30-50% window/wall area ratio and 20-30% window/floor area ratio respectively; while 48.15% satisfied Givoni's recommendation of 0.15-1.15 m/s wind speed for adequate natural thermal comfort. These revealed that greater percentage of the public buildings did not satisfy the recommendations of the Mahoney analysis.

Keywords: passive design strategies, microclimate, building design, environmental impacts, natural physiological comfort

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