Passive climate control in Spanish office buildings for long periods of time

Recent studies have shown that the effect of the internal wall coating on an indoor thermal environment can be seen for short periods of time [Hameury S. Moisture buffering capacity of heavy timber structures directly exposed to an indoor climate: a numerical study. Building and Environment 2005;40(10):1400–12]. However, for long periods of time this effect is hidden by the air renovation and vapour release. These passive methods are gaining popularity because they are energy conscious and environmentally friendly. However, there is little published data on mass transfer between building envelopes and indoor air [Simonson CJ, Salonvaara MH. Mass transfer between indoor air and a porous building envelope: part I—field measurements. In: Proceedings of healthy buildings, vol. 3, 2000; Simonson CJ, Tuomo O. Moisture performance of buildings envelopes with no plastic vapour retarders in cold climates. In: Proceedings of healthy buildings, vol. 3, 2000]. The main objective of this study is to show the internal wall coating effect on indoor air conditions by means of the indoor air parameters. These measurements were taken in 25 office buildings during different seasons. Our results will allow us to understand the internal coating effect for long and short periods of time and, therefore, the thermal comfort and indoor air quality conditions.