VARSHA KAKUTURU

Assessing the effectiveness of passive cooling design strategies to reduce overheating in epilepsy care homes in the UK.

With climate change, overheating in care settings is becoming a severe risk factor. This study analyses the current and future risks of overheating at the Chalfont Centre for Epilepsy, UK and tests the efficiency of passive adaptation strategies to mitigate overheating and to reduce its detrimental health impacts on residents with epilepsy. Environmental conditions of the care home such as temperature and humidity were monitored by placing dataloggers in five bedrooms, one kitchen space and one outdoors during the summer period from 1st June 2022 to 26th June 2022. The occupancy, equipment profiles and window opening schedules were established through surveys and field visits. Dynamic thermal modelling software was used to assess the impact of passive design strategies on overheating and to reduce the usage of active cooling. The results of the baseline model indicated that occupants were at a high risk of overheating, especially during night-time in bedrooms. The maximum number of hours above the UKHSA’s 26oC threshold were 1000 hours in the current scenario, 2200 hours in the 2050s and exceeding 3000 hours in the 2080s. A combination of night ventilation, shading strategies, high efficiency glazing, and high albedo surfaces had the most significant effect on overheating reduction in the current and future scenarios with 0% hours above the 26oC threshold in the current scenario, 6% hours for 2050s and 29% for 2080s. In the future scenarios, these passive strategies did not completely reduce overheating risks, especially for night-time bedroom temperatures and active cooling measures should be considered. This novel study provides valuable insights regarding methods to enable resilience to climate change in care settings with epilepsy. The findings of this study would be beneficial to stakeholders from policy development, public health and built environment sectors to understand the harmful effects of overheating on people with epilepsy and can provide recommendations for the implementation of passive design strategies.