Heatalyzer: A Tool for Evaluating Indoor Comfort in Buildings during Extreme Heat Events

The increase in heatwaves due to climate change poses significant challenges to both indoor thermal comfort and occupant well-being. Unfortunately, existing work does not quantify the impact of extreme heat events as a function of building type, occupant age, and heatwave intensity and duration. We therefore present Heatalyzer, a novel Building Energy Modeling (BEM) tool to analyze indoor thermal comfort, liveability, and survivability for a range of buildings under both past and future weather scenarios. It lets users compare these outcomes across building types and weather scenarios, integrates algorithms for creating extreme weather data, and has a user-friendly interface. Additionally, it outputs several commonly-used thermal comfort metrics, which is crucial for evaluating indoor conditions during heatwaves. Using a case study, we show the potential of the tool to enable building managers and policy makers to assess the impact of extreme events on building occupants.