Grant: Advancing Climate Change Science in Canada

Overheating of building interior spaces as may arise from climate change and extreme heat events has been identified as a major concern to the comfort and health of building occupants particularly of the vulnerable people such as the elderly, children, the physically challenged or the sick. To ensure the resiliency of Canadian buildings against overheating, and protect Canadians' health from a changing climate, the proposed research focuses on assessing summertime overheating risks during heat waves in buildings housing vulnerable populations through field measurements under the current climate, and providing mitigation solutions using validated computer models under predicted future climates. The research activities are organized as follows: 1). Field monitoring: Indoor thermal conditions of 11 selected buildings and exterior climatic conditions will be monitored to assess risks of summertime overheating. 2). Simulations: Development of urban-scale microclimate model and building-scale overheating model. The urban-scale model will be to simulate the surrounding microclimate effects on specific buildings to be applied to detailed whole building simulations to predict indoor thermal conditions under extreme heat events. 3). Mitigations: Development of mitigation strategies by considering urban-scale microclimate and climate change for different Canadian climatic zones. 4). Guidelines: Development of design guidelines to support the ongoing NRC projects under the "Climate Resilience Buildings and Core Public Infrastructure" program to develop guidelines and changes to building codes for climate resilience design of commercial and residential buildings. In close collaborations with NRC, ECCC and HC, the project will produce significant outcomes including 1). Forecasting computer models and design guidelines for assessing and mitigating summertime overheating; 2). Support for the development of climate adaptive building codes and standards; 3). Information necessary to municipal and provincial heath authorities to help mitigate the effects of overheating in buildings, and 4). Training the next generation HQPs ready for solving climate change related building design issues.