The changing landscape of thermal experience and warmth in older people’s dwellings

Abstract

Thermal variations across space affect the use of space within a dwelling. Older people show interest in and understanding of thermal behavior of dwellings. Older people pursue the thermal conditions they desire. Older people take actions to modify the quality of the thermal environment in their house. Changes made to the house may not be solely motivated by thermal comfort concerns. a b s t r a c tThe UK's carbon dioxide reduction policy initiatives often treat environmental conditions in buildings as averaged values of air temperature that flatten spatial variations. This discounts the influence of varying thermal conditions on how people use buildings and the impact this may have on energy consumption. This paper explores the intersection between older people's thermal experience, spatial and temporal variations in thermal conditions in a dwelling and the influence this has on occupants' use of space. The paper reports on qualitative studies in homes with both conventional and newly installed low carbon heating systems. The results suggest that older people are sensitive to and adept at exploiting variations in the dynamic 'landscape' of warmth to achieve desired thermal preferences and that they modify their dwellings to improve the quality of the thermal environment. There is also some evidence of a 'spatial rebound' effect after energy upgrades, when occupants inhabit rooms they previously could not afford to heat. The nature of qualitative research precludes robust recommendations for policy. However, one important avenue to explore further appears to be that householders may be more strongly motivated by interventions offering improvements across a range of aspects rather than on energy savings alone.

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“…27 The thermal environment was cited as an important factor in determining what spaces residents would occupy -moving to different lounges or dining rooms, or even different parts of these communal spaces. 28 Thermal comfort considerations were found to have a strong bias towards keeping residents comfortably warm in winter rather than comfortably cool in summer, 7,8,29 with frontline carers often ill-equipped to manage heat effectively in the summer. 30 Some frontline staff identified care home design being a hindrance to keeping the indoor environment cool.…”

Overheating in vulnerable and non-vulnerable households

“…Even less is known about any distinctions between vulnerable and non-vulnerable households, in terms of either the temperatures within their homes, or the ventilation patterns they choose (van Hoof et al, 2010;Tweed et al, 2015;White-Newsome et al, 2012).…”

A pilot study monitoring the thermal comfort of the elderly living in nursing homes in Hefei, China, using wireless sensor networks, site measurements and a survey

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