Adaptive model

The research presented in this paper was conducted in order to test whether the thermal preferences of occupants in low energy houses are influenced by their environmental values. This was done through a thermal comfort study and Environmental Attitudes Inventory (EAI) of 40 low energy households located within two very different climates, cold temperate and hot humid, in Australia.

There is limited information available about occupant’s window opening behaviour in India. Operating doors and windows is a vital adaptation mechanism in warm climates. This paper reports on a field study which collected and analysed data on the use of openings, comfort responses and the simultaneous temperatures in Indian offices. Occupants in naturally ventilated buildings used the windows and doors adaptively as the seasons changed and the temperature varied. We found that 50% of the windows would be opened at an indoor air temperature of 30 °C, using logistic regression.

Considering school students spend up to one third of their day inside classrooms, it’s surprising how few detailed empirical studies have been conducted into how the thermal environment of classrooms affects students’ comfort and performance. Whereas PMV tends to exaggerate warm discomfort for adults, the literature suggests it underestimate children’s actual thermal sensation, but there is no coherent explanation for this in terms of metabolic or other physiological differences to date.

This study was undertaken to investigate comfort temperatures and adaptive model in Japanese homes. We measured temperatures in the living rooms and bedrooms, and a thermal comfort survey of residents over a three year in Kanto region of Japan. The residents were found to be highly satisfied with the thermal environment of their houses. Significant seasonal differences were found in their comfort temperatures. The results showed that comfort temperature varied with changes in both the indoor and outdoor climate.

Two thermal comfort surveys of people living in two types of naturally ventilatedhousing: traditional courtyard housing and apartment flats performed in Yazd Ilam arepresented in this article. The first study took place in the Iranian city of Yazd, whichexperiences a hot, dry climate. Over 420 subjects in 32 courtyard housing and 39 flatsresponded to thermal comfort questionnaires. At the same time physical and individualmeasurements were taken.

A field study on thermal comfort has been carried out in the capital city of Jakarta, Indonesia. There were 596 office workers working in seven multi-storey office buildings participated in this study. Predicted neutral temperatures were read from thermal comfort meter type 1212, while the subjects' thermal sensations (the actual votes) were collected by means of questionnaire.