Innovative methodology for the assessment of thermal comfort and climate resilience in social housing in Coahuila, Mexico

Social housing in Mexico comprises of a repetitive design that does not respond to local climate. The scarce studies regarding thermal comfort combined with the use of accurate weather files represented a gap in knowledge that led to the development of the current research. Three locations for the state of Coahuila, a northeast state of the country, were considered for their analysis: Saltillo, Monclova and Torreón. These cities were selected because even if they are in the same state, have three different climates. Weather files for future climate scenarios are not available for the mentioned cities, as is also the case for many locations in the country. The novelty of the research relies in the development of a new methodology for the generation of weather files used in dynamic simulation from diverse disposition of numerical data, for current and possible future climate scenarios. The applicability of these files was presented in dynamic thermal simulations in where results were shown in percentages of annual thermal comfort. The mathematical procedures used for the methodology are based on the Least Squares Approximation technique to generate equations from current weather data, and further, interpolate using future weather data. With these, data needed for weather files can be obtained for specific points, and not only from weather stations. In addition, its application extends for purposes of energy studies and thermal comfort in the built environment. Data required for using the algorithms presented could be modified and adapted to analyse different scales and data disposition. The climate scenarios from the International Panel on Climate Change adapted to the weather files were the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios A2 and B2, and the Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 for the near horizon (years 2015–2039), the medium horizon (years 2045–2069), and the far horizon (years 2075–2099). These strategies were assessed in dynamic simulations, whose results showed that the weather files have a different impact depending on their location, even when the projects are placed in the same state, as was the case for Coahuila. Due to this, there is a necessity of using different characteristics in the thermal building envelope in order to offer best indoor qualities depending on the site. Through a parametric study, diverse thermal envelope characteristics were simulated, in envelope materials, glazing in windows, shading elements, different sizes and disposition of windows; no active heating or cooling systems were considered. The three chosen locations for each city shown different results, and improvements in annual thermal comfort for the city of Saltillo reach up to 36.93%, in Monclova of 22.52% and in Torreón of 29.69%. These modifications in the building envelope benefit the users in terms of thermal comfort, bills savings, and facilitate the designers to propose better envelope characteristics adapted to the site of each project. Therefore, new designs can be considered by ends of having resilient and adaptable buildings to climate projections and possible weather changes in the near, medium and far futures