A Field Investigation on Summer Thermal Comfort of Occupants of Rural Houses in the North Area of Hot Summer and Warm Winter Zone, China

Abstract

Human thermal comfort presents noticeable variation across urban and rural areas. Among previous studies, only a few field investigations focus on thermal comfort experienced by rural houses within hot summer and warm winter (HSWW) zones, especially across the north area. The existing thermal environment and energy-saving standards in China make it difficult to provide accurate guidance for building performance design in this area due to the lack of thermal comfort information for humans. This study undertook a field-based survey in rural houses in Hezhou, located in the northern part of an HSWW zone in China. Both on-site environmental data collection and subjective surveys were performed at the same time. Subsequently, this study examined the correlation of operative temperatures with subjects’ perceptions of the thermal environment. Our findings indicate that the actual neutral temperature in summer was 25.34 °C, whereas the predicted value was 25.17 °C. Temperatures within the range of 21.69~30.55 °C were considered acceptable during the operation. The elderly had a higher thermal tolerance than the adults. There was no significant statistical difference between males and females. Our findings contribute to the ongoing development of thermal comfort research for rural housing.