TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparative analysis on indoor and outdoor thermal comfort in transitional seasons and summer based on multiple databases
T2 - Lessons learnt from the outdoors
AU - Liu, Sijing
AU - Xie, Yongxin
AU - Zhu, Yingxin
AU - Lin, Borong
AU - Cao, Bin
AU - Wong, Nyuk Hien
AU - Niu, Jianlei
AU - Fang, Zhaosong
AU - Lai, Dayi
AU - Liu, Weiwei
AU - Wen, Jianxiu
AU - Mou, Di
AU - Tang, Hao
AU - Liu, Zhaoru
AU - Ignatius, Marcel
N1 - Funding Information:
This study is supported by the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52130803), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (Grant No. 51825802), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2021M691790).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/11/20
Y1 - 2022/11/20
N2 - In environments with similar physical parameters, thermal comfort and sensation feelings may differ indoors and outdoors. How indoor and outdoor thermal perception differ from each other remains unclear. This study compared and discussed 29,536 field survey data, including 19,191 sets of indoor data, and 10,345 sets of outdoor data, covering five Köppen climate zones during transitional seasons and summer. Indoor data points were collected from two databases: the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort II and the SCATs (Smart Controls and Thermal Comfort), while outdoor data points were collected from the RUROS database (Rediscovering the Urban Realm and Open Spaces) and five individual projects executed in Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Changsha, and Tianjin. The concepts of neutral rate (NR) and comfort rate (CR) were developed to help categorize “neutral” and “comfort” across different studies. The results of this study show that people are less sensitive to changes in thermal environment outdoors than indoors. Moreover, thermal comfort cannot be simply treated as thermal neutral, particularly for outdoor spaces. Compared with MM (mixed-mode) and NV (naturally ventilated) spaces, outdoor space does not have the highest NR, but its CR is much higher, with a wide range of SET* (Standard Effective Temperature) corresponding to CR over 80 %, from 15.5 °C to 23.4 °C. In the Cfa (humid subtropical) climate zone, significantly higher CR are recorded for outdoor spaces, although the NR are similar or even lower than those of indoors. Natural thermal resources in the outdoor thermal environment may hold the key to extending indoor comfort ranges.
AB - In environments with similar physical parameters, thermal comfort and sensation feelings may differ indoors and outdoors. How indoor and outdoor thermal perception differ from each other remains unclear. This study compared and discussed 29,536 field survey data, including 19,191 sets of indoor data, and 10,345 sets of outdoor data, covering five Köppen climate zones during transitional seasons and summer. Indoor data points were collected from two databases: the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort II and the SCATs (Smart Controls and Thermal Comfort), while outdoor data points were collected from the RUROS database (Rediscovering the Urban Realm and Open Spaces) and five individual projects executed in Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Changsha, and Tianjin. The concepts of neutral rate (NR) and comfort rate (CR) were developed to help categorize “neutral” and “comfort” across different studies. The results of this study show that people are less sensitive to changes in thermal environment outdoors than indoors. Moreover, thermal comfort cannot be simply treated as thermal neutral, particularly for outdoor spaces. Compared with MM (mixed-mode) and NV (naturally ventilated) spaces, outdoor space does not have the highest NR, but its CR is much higher, with a wide range of SET* (Standard Effective Temperature) corresponding to CR over 80 %, from 15.5 °C to 23.4 °C. In the Cfa (humid subtropical) climate zone, significantly higher CR are recorded for outdoor spaces, although the NR are similar or even lower than those of indoors. Natural thermal resources in the outdoor thermal environment may hold the key to extending indoor comfort ranges.
KW - Indoor versus outdoor
KW - Thermal comfort
KW - Thermal comfort databases
KW - Thermal neutrality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135406401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157694
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157694
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35907546
AN - SCOPUS:85135406401
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 848
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 157694
ER -