Nudging the adaptive thermal comfort model

Abstract

The release of the largest database of thermal comfort field studies presents an opportunity to perform a quality assurance exercise on the first generation adaptive comfort standards (ASHRAE 55 and EN15251). The analytical procedure used to develop the ASHRAE 55 adaptive standard was replicated on 60,321 comfort questionnaire records with accompanying measurement data. Results validated the standard's current adaptive comfort model for naturally ventilated buildings, while suggesting several potential nudges relating to the adaptive comfort standards, adaptive comfort theory, and building operational strategies. Adaptive comfort effects were observed in all regions represented in the new global database, but the neutral temperatures in the Asian subset trended 1-2 °C higher than in Western countries. Moreover, sufficient data allowed the development of an adaptive model for mixed-mode buildings that closely aligned to the naturally ventilated counterpart. We present evidence that adaptive comfort processes are relevant to the occupants of all buildings, including those that are air conditioned, as the thermal environmental exposures driving adaptation occur indoors where we spend most of our time. This affords significant opportunity to transition air conditioning practice into the adaptive framework by programming synoptic-and seasonal-scale set-point nudging into building automation systems.

Acoustic Design Criteria in Naturally Ventilated Residential Buildings: New Research Perspectives by Applying the Indoor Soundscape Approach

“…A differentiation of acoustic criteria between mechanical and natural ventilated buildings has already been advocated in the literature, starting from an analogy with thermal comfort criteria [104,105]. Indeed, standards on thermal comfort provide different criteria and models, on the basis of "different thermal experiences, changes in clothing, availability of control, and shifts in occupant expectations" occurring in naturally ventilated buildings [111], that have led to the definition of the adaptive thermal comfort model [112][113][114]. Similarly, according to Field, a different noise sensitivity could be assumed under NV conditions, resulting in higher noise levels to be tolerated, because of the following: (i) a lower expectation of low noise levels, (ii) the appreciation of non-acoustic benefits and (iii) a different availability of control in comparison to mechanically ventilated buildings [104,105].…”

Energy Retrofit of Social Housing with Cultural Value in Spain: Analysis of Strategies Conserving the Original Image vs. Coordinating Its Modification

“…To estimate the thermal comfort, we used the adaptative comfort approach according to the ASHRAE55-2017 standard included in the Design Builder software for naturally ventilated buildings. This method has been proven to be useful for mixed-mode buildings such as ours (i.e., a combination of operable windows and mechanical conditioning) [44]. An annual simulation was run at intervals of one hour.…”

Adaptive‐rational thermal comfort model: Adaptive predicted mean vote with variable adaptive coefficient

“…The three case studies are used to demonstrate how to apply the proposed arPMV as well as to verify the effectiveness of the proposed arPMV in improving thermal sensation prediction. In future studies, to develop general thermal comfort models for updating thermal comfort standards and practical applications, the proposed arPMV shall be applied to a large database (ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II) to acquire a table of the q and p values for different building types taking into consideration the effects of gender, age, climate etc 65‐67 …”