Adaptive thermal comfort in the main Mexican climate conditions with and without passive cooling

Abstract The present work shows an adaptive thermal comfort modelling suitable for the main four climatic regions of Mexico, for cooling and heating seasons and for both air-conditioned and free-running buildings using passive cooling. The document has the aim of setting up an own thermal comfort criteria within the Mexican territory and thereby determining the upper limit of the indoor air temperature, for passive cooling, and the lower threshold, for active cooling. All this with the purpose of reaching the maximum of comfort with passive methods as well as minimizing the energy consumption when active cooling is on. The comfort model takes account of the main human and physical factors presented in previous surveyed studies. With this, it is found that for air-conditioned buildings the temperature set-point of the thermostat could be considerably raised and still maintaining indoor comfort. On the other hand, for free-running buildings, the sensation of discomfort could be decreased if the occupants are able to have the control of their environment by using controlling passive techniques namely natural ventilation and solar control systems.