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Comfort in the Indoor Environment: A Theoretical Framework Linking Energy Efficiency and Universal Design

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Advances in Design for Inclusion (AHFE 2017)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 587))

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Abstract

Energy Efficiency (EE) and Universal Design (UD) are topics high on governmental policy and research agendas which have been considered separately both in research and practice. This research hypothesizes that comfort can be a conceptual link that can represent both EE and UD features. In order to understand the broader meaning of comfort at home from the perspective of inhabitants in the context of home renovations, and to test our hypothesis, we conducted 3 qualitative studies with different user groups. The results confirm that users associate with comfort all aspects related to EE as well as with most aspects in UD. In addition, results indicate that EE can be an integral part of UD if both are considered from a comfort point of view. These are presented in a theoretical framework for comfort that can be used to further study a potential integration of the EE and UD fields.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Architecture and Art, Hasselt University, Agoralaan, Gebouw D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium

    Ermal Kapedani, Jasmien Herssens & Griet Verbeeck

Authors
  1. Ermal Kapedani
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  2. Jasmien Herssens
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  3. Griet Verbeeck
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ermal Kapedani .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Architettura, Università degli Studi “G.d’Annunzio”Chiet-Pescara, Pescara, Italy

    Giuseppe Di Bucchianico

  2. EIDD - Design for All Europe, Oliveto Lario, Italy

    Pete F Kercher

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Kapedani, E., Herssens, J., Verbeeck, G. (2018). Comfort in the Indoor Environment: A Theoretical Framework Linking Energy Efficiency and Universal Design. In: Di Bucchianico, G., Kercher, P. (eds) Advances in Design for Inclusion. AHFE 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 587. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60597-5_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60597-5_28

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-60596-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-60597-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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