Buildings’ Indoor Microclimate Quality (IMQ): Assessment and Certification

Abstract

Ensuring satisfactory indoor climate quality is a fundamental aspect of building management for both newly constructed and existing buildings. Moreover, as indoor microclimate quality (IMQ) plays a driving role in building energy consumptions and movable heritage preservation, its assessment and certification are fundamental in order to allow building control and optimization. In historic buildings, museums, or where indoor climate requirements should simultaneously satisfy people comfort and movable heritage safety, it is essential to propose assessment and certification methodologies capable of capturing the multidimensional nature of this management problem. Currently, a framework for guiding during IMQ assessment and certification, especially when different microclimate needs coexist, still lacks; this makes often the certification process inconsistent and arbitrary. In this contribution, after an overview on the collection microclimate management evolution, the critical aspects of the methodology to be taken into account during IMQ assessment and certification are discussed. Finally, an IMQ certification model is introduced.