ZEMCH 2019 International Conference Proceedings April.2020 | Page 249
1. Introduction
As one of the most impoverished East African countries, Uganda is likely to be dramatically
affected by climate change. Nearly 38% of the country’s population live below the income poverty line
of $1.25 [1] and only 8% of rural families have access to electricity [1], while they account for around
85% of the total population [2]. Besides, over 60% of the country’s urban population live in slums [3,4]
and around 50% live in single‐roomed overcrowded properties [5].
Detached houses (58%) are the most common housing types in Uganda [6] and the average number
of people sleeping in one room is four or more [7]. Over 60% of homes in Uganda have iron sheets roof
(Figure 1) and 37% are thatched. Brick followed by mud & poles are the most common walling materials
with 57% and 39% of the constructed wall, respectively. Cement/concert is also predominant flooring
material in urban areas of the country. Around 70% of the houses in urban areas have concrete flooring
[5,8].
Figure 1. Low‐income housing and slums.
Uganda has a moderate tropical climate with annual temperature ranging between 16 °C and 30 °C
[9]. However, climate change and global warming are expected to increase the average air temperature
by 3–4 °C during the next 70 years [10]. Indeed, climate change is expected to dramatically affect the
health and wellbeing of the low‐income populations in low‐income countries. Low income populations
will be hit the worst by the negative effects of climate change. Moreover, the growing trend of moving
away from sustainable traditional building materials, such as adobe and thatched roofs, toward less
sustainable and environmentally damaging materials, such as concrete and iron sheet roofs, is
contributing to concerns over the effects of climate change on thermal comfort in low‐income housing
in Uganda [11]. Due to the lack of access to adequate resources, low‐income people are less able to
adapt to climate change putting them in an even more vulnerable position.
This paper aims to evaluate the effects of natural ventilation strategies on the risk and extent of
thermal discomfort in low‐income houses in Uganda. The paper is a part of a series of publications on
the effects of climate change on thermal comfort in low‐income housing in Uganda. The effects of
alternative construction methods and materials as well as refurbishment and solar shading strategies
on thermal comfort have been reported in other papers [12,13,14].
2. Methodology
Dynamic thermal simulations were conducted in EnergyPlus to evaluate the effects of various
building geometries and ventilation strategies on thermal comfort. The Test Reference Year (TRY) for
Kisumu in Kenya was used for the purpose of simulations as the closest city to Kampala with similar
climatic conditions. The materials’ properties were defined based on the available information in Perez
Effects of Natural Ventilation on Thermal Comfort in Low-income Tropical Housing
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