Resource-efficient indoor comfort at high outdoor temperatures

Climate change is raising the average temperature and increasing the risk of heat waves in Sweden. There is already an increased demand for air conditioning for cooling of homes, which in the long run can lead to problematic loads on the electricity grid.

People’s expectations and behaviours play a major role in shaping future energy needs for
cooling. To ensure resource-efficient buildings in a warmer future, we need to understand how to encourage alternatives to residential air conditioning, to prevent the technology from becoming a norm in Swedish households. At the same time, we need to know how households who already have air conditioning installed can use it as efficiently as possible at times when cooling is indeed needed.

As there are few Swedish studies within this area, we will as a first step conduct a synthesis of
international studies on behaviour and thermal comfort in warmer countries. Insights from these are then analysed based on Swedish technical and cultural conditions, to provide examples of different ways to create indoor comfort and their relevance to a Swedish context.

Based on this, we can directly learn from other countries about relevant resource-efficient strategies and solutions to create good indoor comfort. We will also provide suggestions for future studies, for example to better understand the link between behaviour, indoor comfort and energy use in hot weather in Sweden or to study promising strategies and solutions from other countries with Swedish households.