This study measured the evacuation environment in the shelter and also conducted questionnaire surveys to find out the ways to improve the evacuation environment and future issues. The study results showed that the temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration in the shelter were in stable conditions. In addition, the participants demonstrated high satisfaction in terms of the evaluation of acceptance and satisfaction of thermal environment. This study suggested that the air environment of the evacuation center correlates with the hygiene of the evacuees. As for the thermal environment for evacuees, improvement of airflow and floor surface temperature was required.

The Japanese government mandated a mechanical ventilation system for the purposes of solving sick houses and setting the guidelines for indoor hazardous chemical substances. However, as the use of new chemical substances and alternative substances has increased, pollution in the rooms has been a major concern. Therefore, the present study measured the emission rate of new contamination chemicals from building materials through the micro-chamber. As a result, the emission of 2EHA from the adhesive was confirmed. In addition, TXIB, TEXANOL, DINP, DEHP, DBP and other chemical substances were emitted from the building materials such as carpet, PVC flooring, water paint, and insulation.

Recently, since global warming has continued, reduction of greenhouse gas CO2 is required. CO2 emissions in the civil area sectors in Japan account for approximately 30%, which is about one-third of the whole of Japan. Therefore, reduction of energy consumption in houses, office and etc. is obviously required. In order to reduce energy consumption of buildings, high-efficiency of machinery, high-insulation, high-airtightness, and use of renewable energy are mentioned. Especially, use of geothermal energy which has almost constant temperature throughout the year has been drawing attention. However, in case of geothermal ventilation system, a fungi, dust, pollen and etc. derived from the outside air are taken directly into the pipe. It is concerned that they cause contamination inside the pipes and breeding of molds, which may lead to odors. The present study analyzed the contamination degree of the pipe surface in the geothermal ventilation system and proposed cleaning frequency in the pipe, cleaning method and so on.

The application of green roof has been encouraged to mitigate urban heat island occurrence and to provide ecosystem services in urban areas since a few decades ago. Because very few literature on the usage of moss in green roof implementation is available, this paper introduces the thermal performance of Sunagoke (Racomitrium Canescens) moss green roof in addressing urban heat island effect. In addition, the insights of evaporation cooling on Sunagoke moss are also discussed. The experiments were performed inside the Artificial Climate Chamber with the ambient temperature and humidity set to 30°C and 70% RH, respectively, to simulate a typical summer environment in Japan. The effects of convection heat transfer by means of wind velocity and irradiance were tested on a dry Sunagoke model house, a moist Sunagoke model house, and a control model house. By altering the wind velocity from 0 to 3m/s, the convection heat was found to dominate the entire heat transfer in dry roof surfaces that lack evaporation (dry Sunagoke and control model house). In contrast, for the whole heat transfer process, the latent heat of moist Sunagoke green roof governed and diverted 70% by no-wind convection and 91% by wind-induced convection. The latent and convection heat of moist Sunagoke green roof were clarified to have inverse correlation to each other, and the diversion rose upon reaching wind-induced convection state. In terms of normalised temperature differences, the influences of the roof and atmosphere were balanced on dry Sunagoke moss in wind-induced convection, as the temperature ratios were close to 1. However, on moist Sunagoke moss, the evaporation consumed most of the heat, hence, the temperature ratio was lower than the other two model houses. The ratio further diminished near 0 in wind-induced convection. Nevertheless, the effects of wind velocity above 2m/s were clarified identical, since no significant changes were found in the convection heat transfer coefficient, surface temperature, conduction heat flux, and interior temperature afterwards.

Green roof technique has been introduced as a mitigation approach towards urban heat island (UHI) occurrence since a few decades ago. Since there was very little literature on the usage of moss in green roof implementation available, this paper establishes the thermal performance of Sunagoke (Racomitrium Canescens) moss green roof in addressing UHI effect. As the evaluation conditions, the thermal performance of Sunagoke moss green roof was investigated quantitatively through indoor and outdoor experiments. Indoor experiments were performed inside the artificial climate chamber with the ambient temperature and humidity fixed at 30 °C and 70% RH, respectively, while the irradiance strength and wind velocity were altered as the investigation parameters. Meanwhile, outdoor experiments were piloted at Yamaguchi University main office building rooftop, consisting of the uncontrollable natural environment. As the test candidates, a model house with 3mm of Sunagoke mat and control model house were utilized in the indoor and outdoor experiments. Besides, model houses with 30mm of Sunagoke mat and grass were added as comparison candidates in outdoor experiments. In outdoor experiments, all green roofs displayed better convection heat transfer coefficient than the control roof; however, the thinnest Sunagoke had the best ability to release heat compared to other competitors. The albedo was not affected by wind velocity but irradiance strength, noting 0.25, 0.22, 0.22, and 0.24 for model houses Sunagoke 3mm, Sunagoke 30mm, grass, and control, respectively. The 30mm thickness Sunagoke moss did not deliver heat as good as 3mm Sunagoke moss and 25mm grass in term of convection heat, but the suppression of interior temperature was the most superior. Despite the absence of soil, both Sunagoke moss green roofs showed decent insulation effect and provided thermal relaxation comparable to grass. Index Term— Sunagoke moss green roof, convection heat transfer, thermal performance, interior temperature.

To support the appropriate default value assignment in design performance modeling (DPM), which is defined as energy/performance simulations in the concept and schematic stages of the design process, a methodology for creating maps of the recommended window-to-wall ratio (WWR) is proposed using integrated simulations and optimizations. A case study is conducted to create maps of recommended WWR in Japan. The distribution of the optimal WWR under varying design conditions exhibits three distinct patterns: (i) As the WWR decreases, the CO2 emissions decrease. (ii) An appropriate WWR value exists (30-50%) at which the CO2 emissions are minimized. (iii) As the WWR increases, the CO2 emissions decrease. Five design conditions of lighting power density, climate, window orientation, internal gains, and building scale are examined in this investigation. The results of the quantitative evaluation indicate that the lighting power density, climate, and window orientation significantly impact the optimal WWR configuration. The optimization results of 10 locations in four main orientations with two lighting power densities (10 W/m(2) and 5 W/m(2)) are processed according to the optimal WWR distribution patterns to generate the recommended WWR maps for Japan. The maps provide architects with the information needed to determine the setting direction of default WWR values for DPM. For example, a larger WWR is recommended for buildings in zones 6-8 of the Japanese climate regions for the current lighting power density (10 W/m(2)), except for eastern facades. In contrast, a moderate or smaller WWR default value should be carefully assigned according to the window orientation in zones 4-8 when the lighting efficiency improves (i.e., for a lighting power density of 5 W/m(2)). (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Today, the use of CFD analysis has increased in architectural and environmental fields. Visualization of information from simulation outputs can help teams and clients understand the direction of projects well. However, it often runs the risk of careless output of simulation results and thereby leads to misunderstanding. Therefore, information entropy in visualized information needs to be reduced. The factors that affect the understanding of visualized information have been studied through two experiments. In the first experiment, participants examined pictures of wind fields around buildings as the outputs of a CFD analysis. The color scheme strongly affects their understanding about the wind fields and a reverse color scheme makes them feel that it is windier. In the second experiment, it was found that not only does the color scheme in the strong wind area, but also the one in the weak wind area, affects their understanding of visualized information.

A desiccant air-conditioning system was developed as a latent-load-processing air conditioner in a dedicated outdoor air system during the summer. This study investigated the application of this air-conditioning system to humidification during the winter without using make-up water, thereby eliminating the cause of microbial contamination in air-conditioning systems. The experiments were conducted with a system used for summer applications to determine the feasibility of adsorbing vapor from outdoor air and supplying it to an indoor space. The humidification performance, energy efficiency, and operating conditions were examined. Although the conditions were subpar because the experiments were performed with an actual dedicated outdoor air system, the results showed that it is possible to supply air with a minimum humidity ratio of 5.8 g/kg dry air (DA) when the humidity ratio of outdoor air ranges from 1.8 to 2.3 g/kg DA. The minimum humidification performance required for a dedicated outdoor air system was achieved by increasing the airflow rate of the moisture-adsorption side to 2–3 times that of the humidification side. In addition, air leaking from the moisture-adsorption side to the humidification side, improving the mechanical structure, such as by the insulation of the moisture-adsorption side, and an efficient operating method were examined for humidification during the winter.

In this study, a desiccant outdoor air-conditioning system that uses high-temperature chilled water (approximately 20 ℃) and low-temperature hot water (approximately 55 ℃) produced by a high-efficiency heat pump, and hot air produced by solar heat collectors, was proposed. This system treats the total heat load of outdoor air and indoor latent heat load in commercial buildings. In the proposed system, solar heat is effectively used for regeneration of the desiccant in summer and for pre-heating of ventilation air in winter. We have constructed a prototype of this system and evaluated the coefficient of performance (COP) of the entire desiccant air-conditioning system using the measured values of electric energy consumption and treated enthalpy between the outdoor air and supply air.

In the present study, a subjective experiment was done to validate the causal relationship between indoor environment and occupants’ performance mediated by their arousal state. Indoor temperature was selected as the environmental parameter, and controlled at three levels (22, 25, 28C). The subjects’ performance was evaluated with three types of tasks (detecting wrong pairs of numbers, inputting numbers, and Sudoku). The results were obviously dependent on the tasks. When subjects engaged in either detecting wrong pairs of numbers or inputting numbers, there were almost no differences in both arousal state and performance among three indoor temperatures. However, in the case of Sudoku, the EA at 22C was significantly higher than 28C (p<0.05) and the TA at 22C was significantly lower than 28C (p<0.05). A difference in performance on Sudoku was also found between 22C and 28C at the ending of the session (p<0.1). As the reason of the dependence on the tasks, it was considered that both EA and TA subsided due to the simplicity and monotony of the tasks except for Sudoku. Thus the EA and TA became lower regardless of the indoor temperature and no differences were caused in the performance.

The present study focused on arousal as one of the human physiological and psychological responses mediating the causal relationship between indoor environmental quality and performance. In order to investigate the role of arousal state, two subjective experiments were carried out. The first experiment was to verify that indoor environment affects occupants’ arousal state. Indoor temperature, outdoor air supply rate and illumination intensity were changed at two or three levels (22, 25, 28C; 10, 30 m/h/person; 10, 300 lx), and six combinations of them were adopted as the experimental cases. A questionnaire was used to evaluate their arousal state with two dimensions of energetic arousal (EA) and tense arousal (TA). Skin conductance level was also used for objective assessment of their arousal state. As a result, EA tended to be low in the cases of poor IEQ, while TA tended to be high at the same time. The second experiment was to verify that arousal state affects performance. During the experiment, subjects performed three types of tasks (detecting wrong pairs of numbers, inputting numbers, and Sudoku), and indoor environment was not controlled. This experiment showed that subjects’ performance became higher when EA was high, but became lower when TA was high.

The effects of thermal comfort on mere exposure effect Ken Matsuda Yamaguchi University Shunsuke Nakamoto Yamaguchi University Hiroki Morioka Yamaguchi University Kyosuke Hiyama Yamaguchi University Tomonobu Goto Tohoku University Makoto Koganei Yamaguchi University Takashi Kusumi Kyoto University Abstract: In this study, we focused on the influence of indoor thermal comfort on the mere exposure effect while manipulating the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). We used neutral random shapes as the stimuli and controlled exposure frequency (0, 1, 5, 10, and 15 times) and PMV (+2=hot,+1=warm,0,-1=cool -2=cold). After the acclimation phase, participants were exposed to each stimulus, and 5 min later, were asked to rate preference, familiarity, novelty, and thermal comfort using a 7-point scale as well as recognition of old and new items. The result showed that, only in a slightly warmer environment, the mere exposure effect occurred definitely. As the number of stimulus presentations increased, the preference for the stimuli did not increased so much during the cold and normal environment condition and showed unstable tendency during the hottest background condition. These results suggested the importance of the control of thermal environment treated as an external noise.