Changing thermal comfort expectations: studies in Darwin, Australia
Date
2018
Authors
Williamson, T.
Daniel, L.
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Conference paper
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Proceedings of the 10th Windsor Conference 2018: Rethinking Thermal Comfort Proceedings, 2018, pp.68-86
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Terence Williamson and Lyrian Daniel
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10th Windsor Conference: Rethinking Thermal Comfort (12 Apr 2018 - 15 Apr 2018 : Windsor, UK)
Abstract
This paper presents an examination of the thermal expectations of occupants in naturally ventilated dwellings from two studies in Darwin, Australia, conducted some 25 years apart (1988/89 and 2013/14). The 25 years between the two studies have witnessed dramatic changes in Darwin, that include a doubling of the population, considerable differences in dwelling styles offered in the market, technological developments making the installation of air-conditioning more available, relative changes in incomes, and energy prices making air-conditioning more affordable. The 1988/89 study employed Comfort Vote Logger devices to record a total of 3800 comfort votes in 16 un-air-conditioned houses during the build-up and wet seasons. The 2013/14 study involved 20 mainly free-running houses in which thermal conditions were recorded on purpose built logging instruments while the occupants recorded 2535 comfort votes over a ten-month period. Analysis presented in the paper gives a detailed comparison of the results from the two studies covering four criteria central to the adaptive comfort concept - external versus indoor temperatures, thermal acceptability, thermal sensitivity and thermal neutrality. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and implications of these findings for the adaptive approach to thermal comfort.
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Copyright © ECHI ltd 2018. Copyright of the individual papers remains with the Authors.