Effect of variable ventilation modes on indoor thermal comfort and building energy consumption

This paper provides an insight into the impact of ventilation on building energy consumption and indoor thermal comfort. Four variable ventilation modes and one fixed ventilation mode were considered. Results show that variable ventilation modes bring a more comfortable indoor thermal environment than the fixed one, with a significant energy reduction ranging from 39.4 to 61.7%. Compared with other modes, the air change rate per hour of 0.5–15 is cost-effective and applicable in naturally ventilated buildings. An improvement of ventilation settings in the tradeoff simulations adopted by building energy codes is necessary to better predict building energy demands.