Adaptive thermal comfort and sustainable thermal standards for buildings

Over the past few generations, expectations of comfort, cleanliness and convenience have altered radically, but these dramatic changes have largely gone unnoticed. This intriguing book brings together the sociology of consumption and technology to investigate the evolution of these changes, as well the social meaning of the practices themselves. Homes, offices, domestic appliances and clothes play a crucial role in our lives, but not many of us question exactly how and why we perform so many daily rituals associated with them. Showers, heating, air-conditioning and clothes washing are simply accepted as part of our normal, everyday lives, but clearly this was not always the case. When did the daily shower become de rigueur? What effect has air conditioning had on the siesta at one time an integral part of Mediterranean life and culture? This book interrogates the meaning and supposed normality of these practices and draws disturbing conclusions. There is clear evidence supporting the view that routine consumption is controlled by conceptions of normality and profoundly shaped by cultural and economic forces. Shove maintains that habits are not just changing, but are changing in ways that imply escalating and standardizing patterns of consumption. This shrewd and engrossing analysis shows just how far the social meanings and practices of comfort, cleanliness and convenience have eluded us.

Comfort, cleanliness and conveniencethe social organization ofnormality

Thermal comfort and building energy consumption implications - A review

Literature survey on how different factors influence human comfort in indoor environments

https://escholarship.org/content/qt8755h7rn/qt8755h7rn.pdf?t=p0jvvs

Occupant behavior modeling for building performance simulation: Current state and future challenges:

The validity of ISO-PMV for predicting comfort votes in every-day thermal environments

Developing an adaptive control algorithm for Europe

Thermal comfort: use of controls in naturally ventilated buildings

Climatic variations in comfortable temperatures: the Pakistan projects

The experimental basis of the adaptive approach to thermal comfort is the field study. Since the publication of Bedford's study in 1936, many researchers have collected data on people's thermal comfort in everyday conditions. The principal assemblages of data are those of Humphreys (1975; 1978; 1981), de Dear et al (1997), de Dear (1998), de Dear and Brager (1998) and McCartney and Nicol (2001). In addition there exist numerous studies not included in any assemblage. The data come from a variety of climates and countries, from people in buildings that are heated or cooled mechanically, and from buildings operating without either heating or cooling. This paper compares the more recent data with the early patterns revealed by Humphreys' 1975–1981 analyses of the worldwide data. The comparison is made for indices of thermal comfort, mean warmth response, temperatures found to be comfortable, sensitivity to temperature change, interpersonal variation, distribution of comfort with temperature, and the...

J. Fergus Nicol

Papers

The validity of ISO-PMV for predicting comfort votes in every-day thermal environments

Developing an adaptive control algorithm for Europe

Thermal comfort: use of controls in naturally ventilated buildings

Climatic variations in comfortable temperatures: the Pakistan projects

Field Studies of Indoor Thermal Comfort and the Progress of the Adaptive Approach