Thermal comfort and energy performance of social housing in hot-dry climates

In Mexico during the last decade, the government has supported programs to develop social housing in order to assist low-income families. This type of initiatives has allowed low-income families to own a place to live, but it has also promoted the spread of housing developments with house models of similar characteristics in the very diverse geographical and climatic zones of Mexico. Even though some of the dwellings have few differences depending on the region they belong to, they do not reflect climatic adaptations to the regions where are located. It is common to find similar dwelling designs in contrasting climates, such as hot humid or cold-temperate, with few differences in their architectural program, ornament and finishes; even the construction systems tend to be very similar among them. This situation could cause deficiencies and improper functioning of the dwellings, basically related to lack of thermal comfort and high-energy consumption, leading to social and economical problems as a consequence. The diagnosis of current conditions of representative social housing in hot-dry climate has been performed, through monitoring and simulation of thermal behaviour of a house model in hot and cool seasons. To evaluate the performance of housing, the calculations of various indexes that involve thermal performance, energy consumption and thermal comfort were calculated, for example decrement factor, lag time and thermal comfort sensation. Finally, recommendations to improve the habitability and energy efficiency of houses have been proposed.