From thermal boredom to thermal pleasure: a brief literature review

Abstract

The most recent review of the ASHRAE Standard 55 (2010) incorporates the dialectic between static and adaptive approaches to thermal comfort by proposing different recommendations for airconditioned and naturally ventilated buildings. Particularly in naturally ventilated buildings, this standard aligns with three important topics in research field of thermal comfort during the last decades: (i) air movement enhancement versus draft, (ii) control availability and its impact on occupants' satisfaction, and (iii) the search for thermal pleasure. This paper presents the rationale behind these three research topics and discusses its positive influence when moving from thermal comfort towards thermal pleasure.

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

“…The concept was then revisited by De Dear, as the logical framework for the adaptive thermal comfort model [6]. Basically, "a peripheral thermal sensation can assume either positive or negative hedonic tone, depending on the state of core temperature in relation to its thermo neutral set point" [5]. That is to say, for example, in warm and humid environments, air motion on occupants´skin surface provided through natural ventilation can be felt as pleasant by building occupants (i.e., generating "positive thermal alliesthesia").…”

“…That is to say, for example, in warm and humid environments, air motion on occupants´skin surface provided through natural ventilation can be felt as pleasant by building occupants (i.e., generating "positive thermal alliesthesia"). On the contrary, "cool, dry, still indoor air" conditions guaranteed by sealed façades and mechanically controlled environments, designed according to the traditional Fanger´s comfort model [119], are able to provide, at best, occupants with thermal neutral conditions (the so-called "thermal boredom" [5]) and above all else at a much higher energy consumption [6].…”

“…During the last decade, thermal comfort research has seen a revival of natural ventilation (NV) as a passive design strategy to reduce cooling and ventilation energy demand [1,2], while providing pleasant thermal environments [2][3][4][5][6] and reducing the possibility of sick building syndrome [7,8]. NV uses temperature differences or wind pressure differentials to supply and remove air across ventilation openings to and from indoor spaces [9], without the adoption of mechanical systems to drive air movement (e.g., fans).…”

Residential buildings’ thermal performance and comfort for the elderly under climate changes context in the city of São Paulo, Brazil

“…Adaptation can be physiological, psychological or behavioural so, a wider range of thermal comfortable conditions and a closer relationship with the external climatic environment can be obtained. Those models apply very well to naturally ventilated buildings because they tend to encompass greater thermal fluctuations, according to external variations, likewise, the users' expectations, their adaptation and satisfaction with naturally ventilated environments are different if compared with air-conditioned environment users [12,13]. Therefore, different recommendations are proposed for air-conditioned and free-running buildings, because the thermal tolerance response has been shown to be different for building users under these two thermal conditioning alternatives.…”

Investigation of the Effects of Glazed Balconies upon Thermal Comfort in Hot Tropical Region

“…The main factors of thermal performance analysis were the hourly operating temperature and comfort temperature, as defined in the adaptive comfort chart of ASHRAE 55 [29], which uses the variation in mean monthly outdoor temperature and the percentage of acceptability ranging from 80% to 90% for determining the maximum and minimum values of comfort temperature. Candido and De Dear [30] argue that the adaptive thermal comfort model offers a new approach to naturally ventilated buildings by defining that temperature fluctuations can be seen as acceptable to their occupants. This approach strengthens the adoption of naturally ventilated spaces as one of the strategies for the conservation of resources, contributing to the construction of buildings increasingly integrated with the environment in which they are inserted.…”