Study at TCU

Traditional building and cities have been developed over many centuries without creating many serious environmental or health problems. They are well matched and adapted to the climates and cultures by using local building materials and techniques and thus they could be one of the key issues for sustainable building design. However, they are decreasing dramatically, being replaced by modern designs. It is often said that traditional buildings are cool in summer and warm in winter but not much research has been conducted. Thus, we are evaluating and improving the thermal environment of traditional and modern building and cities.

Thermal adaptation is one of the most important factors in creating a comfortable indoor environment. Investigating and establishing the comfort temperature of the occupants can suggest customary temperatures for buildings. These temperatures are important because the chosen indoor temperatures affect the energy used in the building, and people in comfort are in general more productive and healthy. In order to clarify the seasonal and regional different in comfort temperature and to develop the adaptive model, we are conducting the field survey in various parts of the world.

The adaptive principle ‘if a change occurs such as to produce discomfort, people react in ways which tend to restore their comfort’ is the basis of the adaptive approach to thermal comfort. Adaptive thermal comfort depends on behavioural, physiological and psychological adaptations. People use a variety of adaptive opportunities to regulate their indoor thermal environment. We are developing various occupant behavioural models (window and door opening, fan use, clothing adjustments, heating and cooling use) relating with the indoor and outdoor thermal environment. Such models are required for the thermal simulation of buildings and automatic controls of indoor environment.

Firewood is the most primitive natural energy resource for human beings. In most developing countries, firewood is used as the main energy source. Especially in the rural areas, people are fully dependent on firewood without being able to access any artificial energy. Firewood could become one of the sustainable energy sources which are available locally, if managed properly. In developing countries, firewood is burned in an open fireplace, is very energy inefficient, and therefore the reduction of firewood consumption is one of the most important issues. We are doing research on energy use in building including firewood, electricity and gas.

Indoor air pollution started when people began to burn firewood, and has a long history in comparison with the pollution caused by other substances such as coal, kerosene and gas. The smoke and dust from firewood combustion contains many chemical compounds which are harmful to the health, causing such problems as asthma, chronic bronchitis, cancer, and irritable eye conditions. This is the one of the major dilemmas in developing countries where firewood is used as the main energy source. Thus, we are evaluating and improving the indoor air pollution by firewood combustion.