Thermal comfort of older people during summer in the continental Mediterranean climate

Larriva, María Teresa Baquero; Forcada, Núria

doi:10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104680

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Behavioural temperature regulation may play a critical role in initiating heat relief strategies during heat waves, working alongside the specific physiological mechanisms to that target population when attempting to mitigate adverse heat health outcomes. Whereas age-related alterations in thermal perception have been identified in adults ( Takeda et al, 2016 ; Baquero and Forcada, 2022 ), there is limited evidence available for children and adolescents. The present study demonstrates that self-reported thermal sensation and comfort are similar between children and adults during periods when a local heat alert is broadcasted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

24-h movement behaviour, thermal perception, thirst, and heat management strategies of children and adults during heat alerts: a pilot study

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Heat waves caused by climate change are increasingly challenging the wellbeing of individuals across the lifespan. Current efforts to understand the thermal perceptions and behaviours of people throughout the lifespan during heat waves are limited.Methods: Since June 2021, the Active Heatwave project has been recruiting households to better understand how individuals perceive, cope, and behave during heat waves. Using our novel web platform, participants were prompted to answer our Heat Alert Survey on days when a participants geolocation corresponded to a broadcasted local heat alert. Participants provided 24-h movement behaviour, thirst, thermal perception, and cooling strategies via validated questionnaires.Results: A total of 285 participants (118 children) from 60 distinct weather station locations globally participated between June and September 2021 and 2022. At least 1 heat alert (834 total) were identified from 95% (57/60) of the weather stations. Children reported spending more time performing vigorous intensity exercise compared to adults (p < 0.05), but no differences in thermal sensation, thermal comfort, or thirst sensation (all p > 0.31) were observed. For thirst management, 88% of respondents used water to relieve thirst, although notably, 15% of adults reported using alcohol. Regardless of age, staying indoors was the most common heat management strategy, whereas visiting cooling centres was the least.Conclusion: The present study presents a proof-of-concept combining local heat alert notifications with e-questionnaires for collecting near-real-time perceptual and behavioural data for both children and adults during heat waves. The observed patterns of behaviour suggest that present public heat-health guidelines are often ignored, children engage in fewer heat management strategies compared to adults, and these disparities highlight the need to improve public health communication and knowledge dissemination around promoting effective and accessible cooling solutions for children and adults.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

24-h movement behaviour, thermal perception, thirst, and heat management strategies of children and adults during heat alerts: a pilot study

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…All questionnaires included various personal and environmental questions. For the sensation vote, ASHRAE'S [11][12] seven-point scale was employed for evaluating thermal comfort. Consequently, Thermal Sensation Votes (TSVs) were calculated based on the following rating: −3 for feeling cold, −2 for feeling cool, −1 for feeling slightly cool, 0 for feeling comfortable, 1 for feeling slightly warm, 2 for feeling warm, and 3 for feeling hot.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Analysis of Summer Discomfort Index and Thermal Sensation Vote Using Remote Sensing Data in the Summer: A Case Study of the Mediterranean Cities Seville, Barcelona, and Tetuan

Ahsissene,

Ortiz,

Raissouni

2024

Ecrs 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fanger's method for the assessment of thermal comfort considers a combination of parameters to determine thermal comfort: air dry-bulb temperature, thermal radiation, air humidity content, relative air velocity, personal activity, and clothing level [31][32][33][34]. Other studies have also investigated the influence of other factors, such as metabolic rate, gender, age, and mood, on thermal comfort [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. In Fanger's equation, the thermal radiation factor is referred to as the mean radiant temperature (MRT).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Spanish Energy-Saving Standard on Thermal Comfort and Energy Efficiency Owing to the War in Ukraine: Case Study of an Office Building in a Dry Mediterranean Climate

Pérez-Carramiñana,

Sabatell-Canales,

González-Avilés

et al. 2023

Buildings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The energy-supply crisis, aggravated by the war in Ukraine, has prompted EU governments to approve urgent energy-saving measures. The new Spanish energy-saving standard aims to reduce energy consumption by changing the regulatory limits for indoor hygrothermal conditions in buildings. This regulation has provoked a great social debate about its real effectiveness and its impact on user comfort. This work explores the hygrothermal performance of an office building in southeastern Spain. The objective of this research is to determine qualitatively and quantitatively how the new energy-saving standard in Spain influences energy efficiency and indoor thermal comfort, by considering the characteristics of the dry Mediterranean climate (BShs) within a warm semi-arid climate (BSh). The scientific novelty of the study is to demonstrate that the new Spanish standard not only reduces energy costs but also makes the indoor comfort of buildings much worse; for this reason, an improvement in the standard is also proposed. The study methodology consists of a comparative study between the thermal performance, thermal comfort, and energy demand of the building, considering both the new and previous standards’ requirements. It also includes the evaluation of a proposal to improve the current standard. The results showed that the new energy-saving standard reduced energy consumption by 21.78% in comparison to former standards, but the new comfort ranges were not acceptable for 60% of the users. The proposed improvement does achieve acceptable comfort for most users (75%) and an additional reduction in energy demand of 48.76% compared to current standard. We conclude that the thermal comfort requirements of the current energy standard should be modified to better adapt the design criteria to the dry Mediterranean climate.

show abstract

Thermal comfort of older people during summer in the continental Mediterranean climate

Cited by 20 publications

References 59 publications

24-h movement behaviour, thermal perception, thirst, and heat management strategies of children and adults during heat alerts: a pilot study

24-h movement behaviour, thermal perception, thirst, and heat management strategies of children and adults during heat alerts: a pilot study

Comparative Analysis of Summer Discomfort Index and Thermal Sensation Vote Using Remote Sensing Data in the Summer: A Case Study of the Mediterranean Cities Seville, Barcelona, and Tetuan

Influence of Spanish Energy-Saving Standard on Thermal Comfort and Energy Efficiency Owing to the War in Ukraine: Case Study of an Office Building in a Dry Mediterranean Climate

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About