Occupant behavior in Indian apartments

Abstract

Occupant adaptation happens to be the key mechanism behind achieving thermal comfort in buildings. User's thermal adaptation is under researched in India, although it is important to understand and limit the energy use in buildings. Relying on filed study data, this chapter looks at various methods of adaptation available and in use in apartments in India. Operating windows, doors, fans, air coolers, and air conditioners (AC) was noted to be robustly correlating with outdoor and indoor temperatures and thermal sensation. Their adaptive operation was limited by many non-thermal factors. People used traditional Indian attires for thermal comfort. These allowed occupants to adapt through changing the drape (and the insulation) within the same ensemble, when the indoor temperature moved outside the comfort range.