# Scottish Passive House: Insights into Environmental Conditions in Monitored Passive Houses
## 4 Results
### Thermal Comfort
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Location** & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Site A**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Site B**} \\ \hline
**Dwelling** & **DA1** & **DA2** & **DB1** & **DB2** & **TB1** \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Handover**} \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Building introduction} & \(\bullet\) & Shown around pre-completion & \(\bullet\) & Shown all systems prior to moving in. Needed camera manual & Welcome pack and building workers explained system & \(\bullet\) & Shown around before moving in. Manuals prior to moving in. \\ \cline{2-6}  & \(\bullet\) & Does not fully understand & \(\bullet\) & Do not know how to use building efficiently once settled in. & \(\bullet\) & Understand systems well. Some did not work well but now fixed. & \(\bullet\) & Took time to learn to operate heating and air systems. Problems with most system, most work solved. \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Maintenance/Support} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & Problems quickly resolved. & \(\bullet\) & Help service quick to respond & Manuals arrived after moving in. Support very helpful & \(\bullet\) & System problems were not dealt with well. \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: _Cont._The annual mean temperatures of monitored rooms in Figure 2 reveals two distinct patterns in terms of potential occupant thermal comfort; this appears to be site based. Concurrent with the occupant feedback, the mean temperatures in all rooms in the four dwellings in Site A exceed 20 \({}^{\circ}\)C, with highest peak conditions in the upper floor bedrooms, the lowest temperatures occurred in the ground floor living rooms and kitchens. In contrast, mean temperatures in the dwelling in Site B (TB1) indicate the average room temperatures were relatively stable and were between 17-20 \({}^{\circ}\)C, the kitchen displayed the warmest mean temperature of 24 \({}^{\circ}\)C and the two bedrooms and living room were the coolest rooms. Both DA2 and TB1 experienced times when the internal temperature dropped below 15\({}^{\circ}\)C. In DA2 this was mainly associated with prolonged window opening, however TB1 complained that they were unable to heat the property during the winter to a comfortable temperature. This was further exacerbated in this house by the dwelling orientation and lack of solar gain. The low temperatures  
Figure 1: Annual mean of minimum, maximum and mean temperatures in monitored Passive House dwellings for 2013. The dashed line indicates Passive House design temperature. Figure 2: Dwelling by room: annual minimum, maximum and mean temperatures by monitored rooms for 2013. The red line indicates Passive House design temperature. experienced in these homes had the potential to reduce the internal surface temperatures below the Passive House 17\({}^{\circ}\)C threshold and cause downdraughts and discomfort. The Passive House design criteria indicate internal temperatures should not exceed 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C for more than 10% of the year, with 4% being preferable [18] (p. 79). The temperature profiles are plotted for each dwelling in Figure 3 to illustrate the percentage of time over a one year period that the temperatures were in excess of 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C. The chart additionally displays annual percentage of window opening occurrences (diamonds) and indoor CO\({}_{2}\) concentrations (triangles)--these are both discussed later. The data indicates dwellings in Site A overheated 16% (DB1), 18% (DA2), 31% (DB2), and 47% (DA1) of the year, while the mean overheating for dwelling TB1 is 3% of the year, suggesting TB1 to have performed well in terms of thermal comfort. All of the occupants indicated that they opened windows when rooms became too warm, particularly in bedrooms, which were open at night in all Site A properties. This suggests that overheating may have been greater if night-time window opening had not occurred.