Solar-supported heating networks in multi-storey residential buildings

3.3
Greatest possible comfort for users
Buildings are basically constructed for the people who live in them or their users. For this reason,
subjective comfort and living habits should not be prescribed by engineers but rather defined by the
users themselves.
Figure 8: The comfort is increased by the utilisation of the solar thermal system and not the other way
around (picture source: Ultimate Lifestyle).
This aspect should be given major attention in the planning and implementation phase of facility
management plants and should cover the following points:
• An important comfort parameter is having domestic hot water on tap as and when required
• Standardized calculation principles are important. In this respective, the subjective feeling of
comfort experienced by individuals should not be forgotten. This means that room
temperatures below or above standardised levels should be possible, as required by the
occupants.
• The occupants' different lifestyles also involve different rest and active phases. This means
that the usual reduction of heating levels during the night should be reconsidered in the light
of this aspect.
• In modern heating supply plants the selection of heating limit temperatures can be
determined by the users themselves.
Building equipment and appliances which make use of renewable sources of energy or which enhance
energy efficiency are frequently associated with restrictions in terms of comfort. The fact that this is
not actually true and that an increase in comfort is in fact achieved by the use of renewable sources
of energy as a result of the system (as well as psychologically) has to be conveyed to the end
consumer more explicitly in the future. In this respect, it should be mentioned that with intelligent
system solutions an increase in comfort is not automatically the same as a higher consumption of
energy.
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