The impact of occupants' exterior shading use and window opening on summer comfort in a lowest-energy apartment building

Abstract

A Viennese apartment building, KAM, was built in 2007 to minimum passive house requirements primarily designed to perform for heat conservation in winter. Less emphasis was placed on cooling in the warm months when planning the building due to the temperate continental climate of Vienna, Austria. Due to apartment owner complaints of overheating, exterior blinds were installed on apartment windows and doors on the topmost floor. Indoor temperature and humidity in four apartments have been monitored over three summer periods. The monitoring results are presented where mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is used in combination with exterior sun shading. The users in the case studies prefer using natural window ventilation to changing ventilation system settings. Indoor daily temperatures remain constant when windows are left closed and shading is used. Results frommonitoring and interviewsindicate the importance of consideringsummercooling strategies in combination with user behavior in highly insulated buildings to control overheating in summer.