Principles of adaptive thermal comfort

Abstract

The adaptive approach to thermal comfort recognises that people are not passive with regard to their thermal environment, but actively control it to secure comfort. Thermal comfort can thus be seen as a self-regulating system, incorporating not only the heat exchange between the person and the environment but also the physiological, behavioural and psychological responses of the person and the control opportunities afforded by the design and construction of the building. This chapter considers the more important means of adaptation and draws attention to factors that tend to inhibit effective adaptation. This chapter is developed from a lecture given in the International Exchange Committee of the Kinki Branch of the Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan, 17 October 2008, Kyoto, Japan.