Shamila Haddad , Adrian Barker , Junjing Yang , Devi Ilamathy Mohan Kumar , Samira Garshasbi , Riccardo Paolini , Mattheos Santamouris : On the Potential of Building Adaptation Measures to Counterbalance the Impact of Climatic Change in the Tropics, Energy and Buildings. Volume 229, 15 December 2020, 110494
Climate change is one of the most significant environmental issues facing communities, while poor construction and absence of effective air-conditioning (AC) predominantly cause indoor overheating. Although AC may help meeting indoor comfort, it increases the vulnerability of low-income residents, triggers large energy consumption, and generates anthropogenic heat, which worsens heat stress outdoor. The capacity of buildings to maintain comfortable thermal conditions without mechanical cooling is the key factor protecting occupants against the rising temperature. Residents of Darwin, Australia, will be largely affected by increasing temperature where the annual peak ambient temperature may increase by 7.4 °C in 2060, while the number of hours above 30 °C will rise by 70%. Based on regional climate modelling for the Australian area and using a building energy simulation platform, we computed that by 2060 the indoor air temperature in a typical residential building may exceed 30 °C for over 4000 h under free-floating condition, with a peak daytime and night-time temperatures of 39 °C and 36.5 °C, respectively.