Bibliometric Review of Passive Cooling Design Strategies and Global Thermal Comfort Assessment: Theories, Methods and Tools

Abstract

Globally, a variety of factors, ranging from ethnicity and occupants’ lifestyles to the local climate characteristics of any studied location, as well as people’s age, can affect thermal comfort assessments. This review paper investigates the energy effectiveness of state-of-the-art passive systems in providing neutral adaptive thermal comfort for elderly people by exploring passive design strategies in four distinct climates, namely Canada, India, Abu Dhabi and the Eastern Mediterranean basin. The aim of the study is to analyse the available data provided by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) Global Thermal Comfort Database II, version 2.1. The main objective of the study is to develop an effective methodological framework for the on-going development of adaptive thermal comfort theory. To this extent, this study presents a comprehensive review of the assessment of energy effectiveness of passive design systems. To accomplish this, the impact of climate change factors in passive design systems was investigated. A meta-analysis method was adopted to determine the input variables for the statistical analysis. Cramer’s V and Fisher’s Exact tests were used to assess occupants’ thermal sensation votes (TSVs). The findings revealed that there are discrepancies detected between the in situ field experiments and the data recorded in the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II. The study findings contribute to the development of adaptive thermal comfort theory by reviewing the existing methodologies globally. Furthermore, a critical review of the significance of occupants’ age differences should be conducted in the identification of neutral adaptive thermal comfort.