Combining thermal inertia, insulation and ventilation strategies for improving indoor summer thermal comfort

A good level of thermal insulation and an adequate thermal capacity of the building envelope are essential toachieve good energy performance. Many studies have been conducted about this topic, mostly focused on thereduction of energy losses, peak load control and energy savings. Nevertheless, very few studies were realizedaddressing both insulation and inertia of the building envelope in a thermal comfort perspective, and taking intoaccount the combined effect of different ventilation strategies.What is the right combination of insulation thickness, heat capacity and night ventilation, in order to achievebetter thermal comfort? How to exploit effectively the passive energy potential of the envelope? Of course theanswer is not unique since too many parameters influence the building dynamic response under real weathercondition. Nevertheless, in this paper a number of simulated results will be reported showing, for a real buildingwith concrete walls, the combined effect of wall thickness, insulation level and outdoor ventilation rates onthermal comfort. These simulations were run under continental climate conditions (UK), and the results show thesynergic effect of some strategies to achieve thermal comfort as well as their individual impact on it.