We examined how guests sleeping in a small-scale hostel, such as a vacation rental (minpaku), for which there has been increasing demand in recent years, perceive the voice alarm of wireless, interconnected smoke alarm detectors using three different alarm-sounding patterns. All participants were awakened by the alarm sounding in other rooms or their own rooms. However, two participants could not grasp the intention of the voice alarm clearly. Visitors’ comprehension of the alarm system is necessary in order for them to understand the intention of the alarm correctly and make the proper decisions regarding evacuation.

In order to ensure fire resistance with wooden structures, self-extinguishment and carbonization control are necessary, but as the required fire resistance time increases, the cross section becomes larger. Therefore, in this study, bench-scale and full-scall beam heating tests were conducted on wooden fireproof structural members using fire-retardant cedar for the barrier layer, using the laminated direction and the amount of chemicals as parameters. As a result, the difference in the effect of the barrier layer during heating and cooling, and the cross-sectional configuration of the member that reduces the volume and weight of the barrier layer were clarified.

This study analyzed the relationship between living environment satisfaction and stress-relieving behavior at home regarding recovery experience and work engagement from the following three perspectives:

1. Test of changes in 2019 and 2020 and differences by telework and non-telework implementation.

2. Stratified correlation analysis on residential environment satisfaction, stress relief behavior at home, Actions lead to recovery, and WE (Work engagement), REQ (Recovery experience questionary).

3. Structural equation modeling of the effects of living environment and stress reduction behaviors by telework and non-telework implementation.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of winter indoor thermal environment on the health for Child-Rearing Age Women. Follow-up surveys on Residents' health and indoor thermal environment were conducted in winter(2015-2022) before, after and 5-6years after moving to houses with thermal insulation performance. Repeated measure analysis of variance showed that increased indoor temperature reduce the symptoms such as cough and phlegm, stuffy or runny nose, stiff shoulders, back pain, cold extremities, injury, and catching a cold. It also improved subjective sleep quality and subjective health status.

The study aims to clarify the effect of indoor environments on office workers’ satisfaction with the thermal and air environment. Environmental measurements and questionnaire survey were conducted on 22 office buildings and their workers in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Satisfaction with the thermal environment showed a quadratic relationship with temperature and a negative correlation with PM_2.5 mass concentration. Also, satisfaction with the air environment indicated a positive correlation with relative humidity and a negative correlation with CO₂ concentration and PM_2.5 mass concentration. Therefore, workers’ satisfaction can be enhanced by maintaining the indoor environments.

This study proposes an MPC-based control method that considers uncertain disturbances as an optimal control method for Thermally Activated Building Systems (TABS) with a slow thermal response. Specifically, the load prediction results are corrected in real-time by data assimilation. The effectiveness of the proposed method was demonstrated by validating the accuracy of three load prediction models: one for the planning phase, one for the early operation phase, and one for the late operation phase. The co-simulation results using CFD and MATLAB/Simulink showed that the integrated water flow rate of TABS can be reduced by correcting the load prediction.

A chair with cooling and heating functions meeting the user’s thermal preferences was studied. In this study, explanatory variables affecting the probability of using chairs with cooling and heating functions were analyzed, revealing the following results. (1) The probability of using the chairs with cooling and heating functions can be expressed by the indoor temperature, seasonal differences, and individual differences. (2) The preferred mode differs depending on the season. (3) Individual differences in the probability of using the cooling mode and the heating mode are significant in the medium temperature range.

It is necessary to know the building environment before the construction of the buildings. The authors have proposed a method to estimate daylight illuminance, PAR, UV-A and UV-B based on the solar irradiance. Among them, UV-B is known to be affected by the ozone, but in the previous equations for the estimation of UV-B, total amount of Ozone has not been included as a parameter yet. Therefore, a method to generate total ozone data at an arbitrary point was developed, and a new model for estimating UV-B by considering the total ozone as one of parameters was proposed.

New Normal impacts on household electric consumption are summarized on following points.

1. Electric consumption increased in 2020-2022 compared in 2019. The regression analysis results suggest that it was caused by behavioral changing factors.

2. Electric consumption has notably increased from noon until evening. Accordingly, electricity generated from the photovoltaic power system was consumed more in the house without flowing to the power grid.

3. HVAC were used longer and in more rooms, so electric power consumption of HVAC increased in summer of 2020.

4. The cases of COVID-19 and the electricity rates impacted the household electric consumption.

The purpose of this study is to explore changes in household power consumption due to telecommuting by comparing life before and after COVID-19 and power consumption based on a questionnaire survey of detached ZEH residents and HEMS data in region 6. The analysis revealed that the largest increase in power consumption due to telecommuting occurred in August, that the increase was larger in residences with lower power consumption, that air conditioners accounted for a larger share of total power consumption, and that air conditioners operated at lower power consumption than rated operation.

The effective utilization of power generation facilities and energy storage facilities as emergency power sources could be achieved by selecting specifications based on anticipated living conditions and equipment usage during power outages and acting accordingly. This study conducted a survey targeting households that have experienced a natural disaster, aiming to obtain reference data for examining the priority of power supply by a power generation facility and an energy storage facility. This paper presents the results of analyzing survey response data regarding the inconveniences that respondents experienced during power outages in various daily life activities.