Assessment and mitigation of summertime overheating conditions in vulnerable buildings of urban agglomerations

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Overheating of building interior spaces as may arise from climate change and extreme heat events has been**identified as a major concern to the comfort and health of building occupants particularly of the vulnerable**people such as the elderly, children, the physically challenged or the sick. To ensure the resiliency of Canadian**buildings against overheating, and protect Canadians' health from a changing climate, the proposed research**focuses on assessing summertime overheating risks during heat waves in buildings housing vulnerable**populations through field measurements under the current climate, and providing mitigation solutions using**validated computer models under predicted future climates. The research activities are organized as follows: 1).**Field monitoring: Indoor thermal conditions of 11 selected buildings and exterior climatic conditions will be**monitored to assess risks of summertime overheating. 2). Simulations: Development of urban-scale**microclimate model and building-scale overheating model. The urban-scale model will be to simulate the**surrounding microclimate effects on specific buildings to be applied to detailed whole building simulations to**predict indoor thermal conditions under extreme heat events. 3). Mitigations: Development of mitigation**strategies by considering urban-scale microclimate and climate change for different Canadian climatic zones.**4). Guidelines: Development of design guidelines to support the ongoing NRC projects under the "Climate**Resilience Buildings and Core Public Infrastructure" program to develop guidelines and changes to building**codes for climate resilience design of commercial and residential buildings. In close collaborations with NRC,**ECCC and HC, the project will produce significant outcomes including 1). Forecasting computer models and**design guidelines for assessing and mitigating summertime overheating; 2). Support for the development of**climate adaptive building codes and standards; 3). Information necessary to municipal and provincial heath**authorities to help mitigate the effects of overheating in buildings, and 4). Training the next generation HQPs**ready for solving climate change related building design issues.