Indoor housing temperatures in tropical climates exceed values associated with thermal comfort, whenever mechanical climate-control systems usually are not allowed due electrical restrictions especially in poor areas where infrastructures are inadequate to maintain a standard of living. This study aims to address thermally efficient and sustainable constructive alternatives in such severe climates. It shows how single-family residential building can achieve comfort conditions, through low-energy consumption. Different alternatives were modelled through DesignBuilder (powered by EnergyPlus), analysing options for roofs and facades solutions for comparison with a reference model for the warmer week of the year. The finding identified the most suitable orientation, and verified the influence of key aspects, such as roof-slab shading and a combination of both façade and roofing strategies. The study compared alternatives tested for different roof systems to establish the comfort hours, showing an increase of 17.86% with solely the roof system, while actions taken exclusively on façades increased the comfort hours by up to 6.55%. Finally, the combined performance of the best roof and facade options showed improvements of up to 92.86% in terms of comfort hours, with an economic impact of 4.8% needed for the practical implementation of the best alternative.

The thermal behavior of three different walls, made with and without by-products, is assessed by means of the Finite Element Method, aiming to evaluate its performance in terms of the sustainable construction of the blocks. Results were compared to those obtained from an experimental campaign, aiming at validation of the model. The by-products used for the blocks were “lime sludge” and “sawdust”, whose performance was compared against the traditional blocks made of concrete as a reference, aiming to demonstrate its sustainability, showing decreases of the thermal transmittance up to 10.5%. Additionally, following the same methodology, the thermal behavior of these above-mentioned blocks but now with added internal insulation made of “recycled cellulose” was assessed, showing higher decreases up to 25.5%, increasing sustainability by addressing an additional reduction in waste, so the right combination of using by-products and the insulating filler in their cavities has been revealed as a promising way of optimizing the walls, offering a relevant improvement in energy savings. Finally, when comparing the U-values of the blocks made of concrete without insulation versus those made of by-products, with insulation, improvements up to 33.3% were reached. The adaptation of the procedure through a moisture correction factor was also incorporated.

This study evaluates the indoor thermal performance and qualitative humidity trends of social housing buildings constructed with thin reinforced concrete walls in a humid tropical climate. A hybrid methodology combining dynamic simulations using DesignBuilder and field measurements using Testo 605i and EasyLog WiFi devices was applied to a four-story residential building in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Operative temperature and relative humidity of the base model (BM) were compared against three passive intervention strategies (M1: EPS insulation + double glazing; M2: EPS insulation + double glazing + green roof; M3: mineral wool insulation + double glazing + green roof). Results reveal that the BM exhibited high operative temperatures (up to 34°C) and extreme relative humidity (80%–99%), exceeding ASHRAE 55 comfort limits. Passive strategies reduced daily thermal variability by up to 6.8%, but humidity control remained limited, with only marginal improvements (<10%). Simulated relative humidity results were interpreted as trend indicators within the modeling scope adopted. Stratification effects were identified, with lower floors experiencing higher humidity and upper floors higher temperature peaks. The findings highlight the vulnerability of thin concrete wall housing in tropical climates and the limited role of envelope-only passive measures for humidity regulation. This study provides empirical evidence for the need to integrate passive and hybrid solutions, offering valuable insights for building codes and housing policies in tropical regions.

Reutilizar subproductos para el desarrollo de bloques de hormigón que sean más sostenibles y con mejores propiedades térmicas, para el sector de la edificación es una necesidad y buena alternativa a desarrollar en el sector construcción. Se realizó un análisis del ciclo de vida (ACV) a los bloques con y sin subproductos, a fin de cuantificar los beneficios medioambientales que conllevaría la incorporación de estos subproductos en los bloques. El ACV se realizó de acuerdo con lo establecido en la norma EN-ISO 15804, que establece las reglas de cálculo para el análisis de productos de construcción. Este análisis se ha realizado mediante la herramienta de software “Eco-it”, con un alcance de la cuna a la puerta. Con base a los resultados se puede concluir que, la sustitución parcial del árido fino por las virutas y del cemento por los lodos de cal en la mezcla, es una vía alternativa para obtener bloques más respetuosos con el medio ambiente y a su vez con mejores propiedades térmicas.

This paper evaluates the indoor temperature and relative humidity of three construction systems in a Dominican social housing scheme, located in different micro-climates present in the Dominican Republic (DR). For the latter, we used DesignBuilder to model the most common type of social housing (S1). In addition, we have also modelled two other improved construction systems (S2 and S3), which have been the result of two different studies, which were conducted in DR. The simulations were carried out in 10 cities. These cities belong to the following five micro-climates: tropical wet Savanna, tropical wet rainforest, tropical wet jungle, dry semiarid and wet temperate. In this article, we have evaluated the construction systems’ performance in the context of thermal conditions inherent to DR. The latter has been done to verify which of the evaluated construction systems is the most adequate for each micro-climate. For this, we determined the average operating interior temperatures and relative humidities for each construction system. We conclude that Samples S2 and S3 show the lowest temperatures in warm climates, while Sample S1 shows improved performance in colder climates. S1 exhibits the lowest values of relative humidities, followed by S3, while S2 presents the highest values.