Evaluation of the improvement in thermal comfort with the incorporation of sustainable building materials in the ongoing self-construction processes for housing in the district of Bosa in Bogota

The use of sustainable materials incorporates environmental benefits, especially for large cities due to the current high pollution rates (Ferrer, 2015). Currently, cement, brick and steel are the most used materials for... [ view full abstract ]

The use of sustainable materials incorporates environmental benefits, especially for large cities due to the current high pollution rates (Ferrer, 2015). Currently, cement, brick and steel are the most used materials for construction, unfortunately they are the ones that generate more C02 emissions in their manufacturing process. The objective is to evaluate the process of incorporating sustainable materials in order to improve the thermal comfort of a group of dwellings with ongoing self-construction processes in the La Libertad neighborhood of Bosa in Bogotá. The Comfort problem in this project was approached as a fundamental condition of housing, if one takes into account that the thermal conditions of the space affect the human metabolism, from this it is derived that temperatures outside the established ranges imply more energy demand For its inhabitants, unfortunately in Colombia, thermal comfort has not yet been incorporated as a variable in the processes of self-construction, the houses respond to a need for habitat understood as the need to have a space of their own regardless of the way in which this space Respond to climatic variables. The project takes place in Bosa, an area of Bogotá, which is located on the south-western border of the city. Its total area is 2394 ha, of which 1885 ha are urban land and 508 ha are protected areas. The methodology was considered a chronological experimental quantitative case study. The response provided by them is that: a) co-variation between the independent variable (materials) and the dependent (s), (existing housing) b) the application of the independent should precede the measurement of the Dependent variable and c) other variables, different from the independent one, have to be discarded as possible explanations of the changes observed in the dependent ones. In the second phase the quantitative approach of the project was initiated, with the diagnosis and beginning of the measurements that determined the thermal comfort of the homes that are part of the case study. The methodology of thermal analysis based on  ISO 7730 will be used. With the community will begin the incorporation of sustainable materials in the houses under study. Finally, measurements will be made to analyze the thermal comfort of the houses that incorporate the materials. This project is in progress and the conclusions can not yet be presented, however for the presentation some results will already be obtained. The theme of the project is of great relevance for the conference for two aspects, the social one due to the geographical context in which a marginal zone of the city of Bogota is developed and the sustainable aspects that analyze when incorporating the project the study of the thermal comfort in Self-build houses and the use of non-traditional sustainable materials for the improvement of these houses.