Every day people spend most of the day in enclosed buildings. Unlike outdoors where the environmental conditions of temperature, relative % humidity, wind pressure, air quality cannot be changed, indoors it is relatively easy to create the ideal conditions that will provide comfort to the user during their stay.
Specifically:
- Room temperature: Appropriate room temperature is an important factor in the concept of thermal comfort. Depending on the time of year, which implies appropriate clothing, the recommended indoor temperature for residential buildings is 26C for the summer months and 20C for the winter months.
- Relative humidity: Relative humidity (%) is a term that refers to the amount of moisture contained in a volume of air under specific conditions of temperature and pressure. The optimum relative humidity limits are 45% in the summer season and 40% in the winter season. These values can be achieved by using air conditioning units through the dehumidification or humidification function depending on the desired effect.
- Traffic, air quality: Movement and indoor air quality is another important factor that determines the degree of comfort of an indoor space. This includes a specific renewal rate by introducing fresh air by natural or mechanical means which for residential buildings should be at least 15m3/h/person. It also includes air purification with appropriate devices that remove environmental pollutants harmful to health.
- Visual comfort: Visual comfort in a room is generally determined by three parameters:
a) the amount of natural lighting,
b) its distribution in space; and
(c) the presence or absence of blurring.