Overheating risk assessment in elderly houses of Finland for current and future hot summers

This study aimed to estimate overheating under the effects of climate change associated hot summers in new and old elderly houses in Helsinki, Finland via simulations. Thermal comfort and indoor temperature conditions without space cooling systems are evaluated for the actual weather conditions in the hot summer of 2018 and the projected weather conditions in the hot summer of 2050 with three climate scenarios RCP2.6, 4.5, and 8.5. However, there is the cooling of ventilation in the new elderly house. Based on the results, the maximum summertime indoor temperature slightly exceeds 27 °C in the new elderly house. While it significantly exceeds 30 °C in the old elderly house. However, a split cooling unit with a cooling capacity of 45 W/m2 can keep the indoor temperature of the rooms at 25 °C even with the scenario of RCP8.5 in both old and new buildings with electricity consumption of 4-6.5 and 3-4.8 kWh/m2 respectively, depending on the climate scenarios.