Sustainability, Vol. 10, Pages 3774: Thermal and Vibration Comfort Analysis of a Nearly Zero-Energy Building in Poland (Sustainability)

Placing emphasis exclusively on minimizing energy consumption in low-energy buildings can adversely impact thermal comfort and vibrational comfort. Vibrational comfort is extremely important in building design, especially within mining or seismically active territories, and due to car transportation in city centers. In this article, a new approach to designing passive buildings and nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) in Poland is proposed, which has a strong emphasis on the necessity of providing comfort of use in passive houses and NZEBs. Additionally, vibration comfort provisions in the design process are examined. The research gap that will be addressed by the research presented in this article is to extend the comfort conditions of passive buildings and NZEBs into the area of vibratory comfort. The second goal of the project is to determine the impact of solar control systems on the conditions of thermal comfort. The conclusions from the research will allow for the optimization of design assumptions for passive houses and NZEBs. The conclusions from the tests can serve as the basis for introducing appropriate construction law requirements in Poland. The results of the research, which are presented in the article, indicate that the technical requirements that are applicable in Poland ought to include requirements regarding the use of sun blinds in NZEBs and passive buildings (not only as recommendations). In particular, the use of apertures on the south side ought to be mandated. The article can also be the basis for introducing the requirements of vibration comfort to the PN–EN 15251:2012 “Indoor environmental input parameters for design and assessment of energy performance of buildings addressing indoor air quality, thermal environment, lighting and acoustics” standard, which is the basis for designing the parameters of the internal environment for buildings.