SHARED OFFICE SPACES REPRESENT A CHALLENGE REGARDING THERMAL COMFORT. THEY HAVE A DIVERSITY OF OCCUPANTS AND EXPECTATIONS, AND THEY REQUIRE SOCIAL INTERACTION, WHICH COULD IMPLY RESTRICTION IN ADAPTIVE ACTIONS, CONTRARY TO INDIVIDUAL AREAS THAT USUALLY ALLOW TOTAL CONTROL. HENCE, THIS PAPER AIMS TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENCES IN THERMAL COMFORT CRITERIA AMONG INDIVIDUAL AND SHARED OFFICES SPACES BY COMPARING ADAPTIVE OPPORTUNITIES AND ACTIONS PERFORMED AS WELL AS THERMAL PERCEPTION. FIELDWORK WAS CARRIED OUT IN CHILE IN 18 OFFICE BUILDINGS, 9 IN CONCEPCION (36°S), AND 9 IN SANTIAGO (33°S). THERMAL COMFORT SURVEYS WITH SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENTS OF INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS WERE PERFORMED IN EACH OF THESE BUILDINGS DURING A SINGLE DAY IN WINTER, SPRING AND SUMMER. THE FINDINGS SHOW VARIATIONS IN THE CRITERIA STUDIED, WHICH INDICATE THAT THERMAL REQUIREMENTS DIFFER BY SPATIAL LAYOUT. MOREOVER, THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT OCCUPANTS OF SHARED SPACES HAVE A WIDER COMFORT RANGE; THEREFORE, SOME KIND OF ?ADAPTATION BY COEXISTENCE? MIGHT BE HAPPENING.

ENERGY POVERTY IS A MULTIDIMENSIONAL AND COMPLEX PHENOMENON, AND SEVERAL INDICATORS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED TO EVALUATE AND QUANTIFY IT. HOWEVER, OFTEN GREATER COMPLEXITY DOES NOT MEAN GREATER PRECISION. IN THE CASE OF CHILE, THE ENERGY POVERTY NETWORK ESTABLISHED THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL AND TERRITORIAL INDICATOR OF ENERGY POVERTY (EPTTI IN SPANISH) TO ASSESS THE ENERGY POVERTY SITUATION OF CHILEAN FAMILIES. THE EPTTI IS BASED ON A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH WITH 10 INDICATORS. ALTHOUGH, THEIR EVALUATION INVOLVES RESOURCES THAT MAY HINDER A PRACTICAL APPLICATION. THIS STUDY ANALYZED THE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES OF AN INDICATOR AND THE ADAPTED EPTTI EVALUATION, USING A DATABASE OF 641 FAMILIES. THE RESULTS SHOW THAT THE EXCESSIVE ENERGY EXPENDITURE AND THE TYPE AND ENERGY SOURCE OF HEATING SYSTEMS INDICATORS ARE THE VARIABLES WITH THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON ENERGY POVERTY ASSESSMENTS. THESE RESULTS SERVED TO BOTH PROPOSE SIMPLIFIED APPROACHES FOR ENERGY POVERTY ASSESSMENT WITH THE INDICATOR, AND ESTABLISH POLICIES OF ACTION THAT REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS SHOULD ADDRESS TO REDUCE THE SITUATION OF ENERGY POVERTY

DOMESTIC HOT WATER (DHW) CONSUMPTION IN DWELLINGS CAN PLAY A KEY ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLICIES THAT ARE FOCUSED ON ENERGY POVERTY, AND IN IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY, AMONG OTHER ASPECTS. THERE IS AN IMPORTANT VARIABILITY OBSERVED WITH DHW AMONG DIFFERENT COUNTRIES DUE TO TECHNICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL, CLIMATIC, AND ECONOMIC FACTORS. MOST STUDIES THAT DEAL WITH DHW PREDICTIONS ARE BASED ON STOCHASTIC MODELS, AND ONLY A FEW APPLY TIME SERIES OR STATISTICAL METHODS. IN THE CASE OF CHILE, THE COUNTRY IS UNDERGOING A POLICY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, AND THERE IS LITTLE INFORMATION ABOUT DHW CONSUMPTION. AS A RESULT, IT IS FUNDAMENTAL TO HAVE DHW CONSUMPTION PREDICTION MODELS THAT ARE FOCUSED ON DWELLING. FOR THIS REASON, THE STUDY ANALYSED THE POSSIBILITY OF USING TIME SERIES MODELS TO MAKE FUTURE ESTIMATIONS ABOUT MONTHLY DOMESTIC HOT WATER (DHW) CONSUMPTION. TO THIS END, CONSUMPTION DATA OBTAINED FROM 98 APARTMENTS BETWEEN 2015 AND 2021 WERE USED, AND 3 APPROACHES WERE APPLIED NAMELY, EXPONENTIAL SMOOTHING, BASIC STRUCTURAL MODEL (BSM), AND STATE-SPACE MODEL (SSM). THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT EXPONENTIAL SMOOTHING AND STATE-SPACE METHODS ALLOWED TO OBTAIN SATISFACTORY RESULTS WITH REGARD TO PERCENTAGE ERROR AND CONFIDENCE LEVELS. THEREFORE, THESE MODELS COULD BE USED TO MAKE FUTURE ESTIMATIONS OF DOMESTIC HOT WATER (DHW) CONSUMPTION.

PROFESSIONALS INVOLVED IN THE EARLY DESIGN STAGES, USUALLY HAVE DIFFICULTIES UNDERSTANDING THE USE OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT TOOLS. THIS ENTAILS MAJOR DRAWBACKS, AS IT IS PRECISELY IN THESE PHASES WHEN DECISIONS THAT GENERATE THE GREATEST IMPACTS ON THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE ARE MADE. AS A RESULT, THIS RESEARCH AIMS TO PROPOSE AND TEST A WORKFLOW THAT INTEGRATES ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA IN THE EARLY PHASES OF BUILDING DESIGN USING BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING AND A CHILEAN DATABASE. FIRST, THE WORKFLOW WAS CONCEPTUALIZED AND IMPLEMENTED. THEN, THE IMPLEMENTATION WAS VALIDATED BY A GROUP OF PROFESSIONALS FROM THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR, THROUGH A PRACTICAL CASE. A SURVEY WAS APPLIED TO THEM TO MEASURE THE INTEGRATION IN TERMS OF TIME, APPLICABILITY,SCALABILITY, AND EASE OF UNDERSTANDING. THE MAIN FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT THE PROOF OF CONCEPT IS VALID AND THAT ITCOULD CONTINUE TO BE DEVELOPED AND THUS CONTRIBUTE TO BRINGING SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA INTO EARLY DESIGN STAGES.

PEOPLES SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE TO ANY THERMAL ENVIRONMENT IS COMMONLY INVESTIGATED BY USING RATING SCALES DESCRIBING THE DEGREE OF THERMAL SENSATION, COMFORT, AND ACCEPTABILITY. SUBSEQUENT ANALYSES OF RESULTS COLLECTED IN THIS WAY RELY ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT SPECIFIC DISTANCES BETWEEN VERBAL ANCHORS PLACED ON THE SCALE EXIST AND THAT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VERBAL ANCHORS FROM DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS THAT ARE ASSESSED (E.G. THERMAL SENSATION AND COMFORT) DO NOT CHANGE. ANOTHER INHERENT ASSUMPTION IS THAT SUCH SCALES ARE INDEPENDENT OF THE CONTEXT IN WHICH THEY ARE USED (CLIMATE ZONE, SEASON, ETC.). DESPITE THEIR USE WORLDWIDE, THERE IS INDICATION THAT CONTEXTUAL DIFFERENCES INFLUENCE THE WAY THE SCALES ARE PERCEIVED AND THEREFORE QUESTION THE RELIABILITY OF THE SCALES INTERPRETATION. TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE, A LARGE INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE QUESTIONNAIRE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN 26 COUNTRIES, USING 21 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, WHICH LED TO A DATASET OF 8225 QUESTIONNAIRES. RESULTS, ANALYSED BY MEANS OF ROBUST STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES, REVEALED THAT ONLY A SUBSET OF THE RESPONSES ARE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MENTIONED ASSUMPTIONS. SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES APPEARED BETWEEN GROUPS OF PARTICIPANTS IN THEIR PERCEPTION OF THE SCALES, BOTH IN RELATION TO DISTANCES OF THE ANCHORS AND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SCALES. IT WAS ALSO FOUND THAT RESPONDENTS INTERPRETATIONS OF SCALES CHANGED WITH CONTEXTUAL FACTORS, SUCH AS CLIMATE, SEASON, AND LANGUAGE. THESE FINDINGS HIGHLIGHT THE NEED TO CAREFULLY CONSIDER CONTEXT-DEPENDENT FACTORS IN INTERPRETING AND REPORTING RESULTS FROM THERMAL COMFORT STUDIES OR POST-OCCUPANCY EVALUATIONS, AS WELL AS TO REVISIT THE USE OF RATING SCALES AND THE ANALYSIS METHODS USED IN THERMAL COMFORT STUDIES TO IMPROVE THEIR RELIABILITY.

SINCE OCCUPANT BEHAVIOUR IMPACTS THE ENERGY PERFORMANCE OF BUILDINGS, ITS STUDY IS RELEVANT IN ORDER TO BRIDGE THE PERFORMANCE GAP. WHILE THE FACTORS INFLUENCING OCCUPANT BEHAVIOUR HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED, MOST STUDIES HAVE FOCUSED ON THOSE FACTORS THAT MOTIVATE THE ACTION, SUCH AS ENVIRONMENTAL AND TEMPORAL CONDITIONS. CONTEXTUAL FACTORS INCLUDING SPATIAL AND OCCUPANT CHARACTERISTICS, WHICH ACT AS ACTION MODERATORS, REMAIN A SUBJECT TO EXPLORE. IN THIS WAY, THIS ARTICLE AIMS TO IDENTIFY PATTERNS IN THE OCCUPANTS? ACTIONS IN OFFICE ENVIRONMENTS, BASED ON SPATIAL AND HUMAN FACTORS. A FIELD STUDY, INCLUDING 514 OCCUPANTS IN 85 OFFICE SPACES, WAS CARRIED OUT IN 11 BUILDINGS IN CONCEPCIÓN, CHILE. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT SPATIAL LAYOUT IS SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO THE OPERATION OF WINDOWS, BLINDS, AND THERMOSTATS, BUT NOT PERSONAL DEVICES. GENDER DID NOT INFLUENCE WHETHER AN OCCUPANT WAS ACTIVE OR NOT AND AGE RANGE WAS ONLY SIGNIFICANT REGARDING BLINDS. IN SHARED SPACES, THERE WERE FEWER ACTIVE OCCUPANTS AND WHOSE ACTS DEPEND ON THE PERCEPTION OF OPPORTUNITY THAT THEY HAVE, WHICH IS ASSOCIATED WITH ELEMENT CONTROL DISTANCE AND OCCUPANT AGE. THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT THE PROBABILITY THAT ACTIONS OCCUR VARIES BASED ON SPATIAL AND HUMAN FACTORS, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE THESE FACTORS AFFECT OCCUPANT PERCEPTION OF OPPORTUNITY.