The Research Of Passive Cooling Designs Of Jamaican Residential Buildings Based On Investigation In Thermal Comfort

This thesis will present the outcome of a field survey that was conducted in Jamaica and represents a firsthand view of the indoor thermal conditions as expressed by building occupants. Field survey is adopted because it generates firsthand data which captures occupant’s perception in their actual indoor environments. In addition it reveals the results of an experiment done on a typical Jamaican dwelling by analyzing the effects of the current passive cooling strategies applied to these dwellings.The imminent global warming unease is pushing architects, scientists and urban planners towards a more sustainable way of living. As a result for the past few years there has been significant attention placed on using passive cooling strategies such as those discussed in this paper to provide more sustainable ways of creating good indoor thermal conditions. It is believe that the applications of such strategies has implications for occupants comfort in terms of creating thermally comfortable living conditions and can reduce energy consumption. This reduction in energy is integral as Jamaica experiences a very high-energy intensity in comparison to other Caribbean islands and Latin America.The objective of this paper is to determine the current passive cooling strategies in use n Jamaican residences, their effects on thermal comfort and to find new passive cooling strategies and/or technologies that will improve the current indoor conditions, while reducing energy consumption.A questionnaire that was developed at the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) was modified and issued to40occupants. The analysis of the occupant’s responses was conducted using Microsoft Excel. It involves the calculation of correlation values, mean values and climatic data analysis.The overall research findings revealed that the current passive cooling strategies has minimal effects on indoor comfort as92.5%of the total survey was dissatisfied with their indoor thermal conditions. It also reveals that due to financial constraints and the lack of education and awareness as to the benefits of sustainable design, such as energy efficiency which is a product of applying passive cooling strategies, homeowners have been choosing the easiest way of constructing their homes without consideration for good thermal comfort.