In Spain, the current Building Technical Code (referred to as CTE in Spanish) establishes restrictive setpoint temperatures that ensure high levels of thermal comfort but at the expense of high energy demands. However, the strategy to achieve thermal comfort in offices tends towards the adaptive approach, since users manually open windows, control the operation of the air-conditioning systems, and perform adaptation actions in order to achieve adequate levels of well-being. This research develops the adaptive comfort control implemented model (ACCIM), which dynamically handles the setpoint temperatures based on the limits of adaptive comfort, in three representative climatic zones of the Spanish territory, in both the present scenario and future scenarios. This is carried out by following a methodology based on the phases of (i) analysis of climatic zones, (ii) model construction, (iii) data collection, (iv) simulations in the present scenario, (v) simulations in future scenarios, and (vi) analysis of the results of a theoretical model and of a real-life model. Not only do the results indicate that it is possible to reduce the energy demand, by using adaptive setpoint temperatures, up to 69.91% for the least restrictive category and of 31.34% in the category that has the highest level of expectation of the users, but they also show the variations in demand that would occur in possible future climatic scenarios. The application of the study in a real-life case achieves minimum differences of between 3% and 10%, thereby validating the prediction model.

Currently, energy performance indicators for buildings are associated with the primary energy source consumption, CO₂ emissions or net energy distribution, which together set the building’s energy efficiency. The evaluation is frequently based on setpoint temperatures and hours of operation. However, these fixed parameters are not suitable for social housing simulation as their performance tends to be in free running, excluding extremely cold or warm conditions. Therefore, a more successful assessment for the efficiency of these buildings is the users’ capability to live within adaptive comfort ranges without air conditioning systems. The aim of this research is to analyze new Chilean standards for sustainable social housing in the context of climate change using the adaptive comfort approach addressed in EN 15251:2007. Using EnergyPlus simulation software, 16 parametric series are analyzed for current conditions and validated against on-site measurements. Meanwhile, a prediction for the climate in 2050 has also been taken into account. The case study is the most widespread low cost dwelling model. The study demonstrates that the period of time within thermal comfort conditions varies substantially if analysis is done using the adaptive comfort standard or the Sustainable Construction Code (CCS) for Chilean housing. Considering climate change, the percentage of time fluctuates from -19.00% to 24.30%. Concluding that the adaptive comfort model has a greater capacity to positively assess indoor temperatures for social housing in Central-Southern Chile. This research also establishes that it is possible to provide homes where standards are improved within comfort conditions without using artificial means, 99.67% of the time currently and 88.89% in the future.