A large field study of relationship between indoor and outdoor climate in residential buildings

Abstract

High-quality data on indoor climate and energy collected in buildings is required to deepen our understanding of building performance. The aim of this work was to investigate the relationship between the indoor and outdoor climate in Danish residential buildings. Field data was collected in 45 apartments from April 2019 to November 2020. Internet of things (IoT) devices were installed to record the temperature, relative humidity and CO2 concentration in the central corridor of each apartment. High CO2 concentration (above 1,000ppm) and overheating were observed in the apartments. The changeover between the heating mode and the free running mode occurred between 11.1 to 13.6 ºC of outdoor air temperature. The temperature setpoints of the heating systems were around 20.6-22.3 ºC, which could be useful values to feed building simulations in order to achieve more realistic predictions of indoor climate and energy. The results of this study improve our understanding of indoor environmental quality in residential buildings at a national level.