[Greenbuilding] Comfort and shutters

JOHN SALMEN terrain at shaw.ca
Fri Nov 19 13:49:54 CST 2010


I missed the naked man specification - do I need to include that in my HVAC
specs?

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the body is a heat producer not something
requiring heat. That bald man in his Poang (whatever that is) is producing
about 400 btu/hr. to keep his body temp constant. 

 

Nicks example had 8% glazed area - a house probably has more like 15% and
there also a lot of other variations in radiation in a room (interior,
exterior walls, lights, electrical appliances, surfaces previously warmed
'poangs', sleeping dogs, etc. I would say it is impossible to compensate for
all the variables by simply raising room temperature.

 

As for comfort - you could call it a happy hypothalamus - or one that
perhaps is not working so hard. I would want to guess that convective losses
in colder environments produce more feelings of discomfort and air flows
around glass can get pretty dramatic and unpredictable. I'm sure not how
much progress is being made in physiological studies on comfort - so many
subjective variables.

 

We have moved away from radiators under glazing but physiologically it still
makes sense to balance a cold surface with a localized heat source. I
remember feeling quite comfy sitting on a heating register looking out a
window on a -30 day.

 

JOHN SALMEN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

4465 UPHILL RD,. DUNCAN, B.C.  CANADA, V9L 6M7

PH 250 748 7672 FAX 250 748 7612 CELL 250 246 8541

terrain at shaw.ca

 

  _____  

From: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Alan
Abrams
Sent: November 19, 2010 8:04 AM
To: nick pine
Cc: greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Comfort and shutters

 

... it looks like we only have to raise the unshuttered room air temp

from 70 to 70.043 F to make the rooms equally comfortable, unless you

are sitting right next to a window.

 

Passiv Haus fascists seem to overemphasize the effect of mean radiant

temps on comfort.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

as he duly qualifies, Nick's calcs assume that the uniformly clad and no
doubt spherical human specimen is in the exact center of the room, losing
heat uniformly over his or her body to a single small window--and is not a
middle ager with a growing bald spot, quietly reading in his Poang between
by the two 7'x7' patio doors of his condo living room.  

with regard to PH fascism--if we are to take John Straub's naked man
specification at its face (errr, full frontal?) value--we may not need to go
all the way to U-0.14...

Nevertheless, the point I am struggling to make is, that in terms of
comfort, there is something significant going on here--in *addition* to mean
radiant temperature.

AA

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