Abstract
Abstract Thermal insulation from clothing is one of the most important input variables used to predict the thermal comfort of a building's occupants. This paper investigates the clothing pattern in buildings with different configurations located in a temperate and humid climate in Brazil. Occupants of two kinds of buildings (three offices and two university classrooms) assessed their thermal environment through 'right-here-right-now' questionnaires, while at the same time indoor climatic measurements were carried out in situ (air temperature and radiant temperature, air speed and humidity). A total of 5,036 votes from 1,161 occupants were collected. Results suggest that the clothing values adopted by occupants inside buildings were influenced by: 1) climate and seasons of the year; 2) different configurations and indoor thermal conditions; and 3) occupants' age and gender. Significant intergenerational and gender differences were found, which might be explained by differences in metabolic rates and fashion. The results also indicate that there is a great opportunity to exceed the clothing interval of the thermal comfort zones proposed by international standards such as ASHRAE 55 (2013) - 0.5 to 1.0 clo - and thereby save energy from cooling and heating systems, without compromising the occupants' indoor thermal comfort.
Highlights
Thermal insulation from clothing is one of the most important input variables used to predict occupants’ indoor thermal comfort (AMERICAN..., 2013a)
This paper aims to shed some light on this field by investigating the impact of subjects’ age and gender on clo values worn by people in mixed-mode and air-conditioning buildings located in a temperate and humid climate
Similar results were reported by Morgan and de Dear (2003), and Kwon and Choi (2012)
Summary
Thermal insulation from clothing is one of the most important input variables used to predict occupants’ indoor thermal comfort (AMERICAN..., 2013a) In both of the most common and current thermal comfort standards, clothing is an imperative protagonist. It represents one of the six variables used to calculated PMV/PPD in the static approach (FANGER, 1970), and for the adaptive method, clothing insulation worn inside buildings is considered as a key feature of the occupants adaptation, strongly dependent on both mean indoor and outdoor temperatures (DE DEAR; BRAGER; COOPER, 1997). Some studies discussed the neglected factors on clothing calculation (HAVENITH; HOLMÉR; PARSONS, 2002), the variance of clothing insulation across the seasons in Korean (KWON; CHOI, 2012) and the impact of cooling strategies on thermal comfort factors from air-conditioning and naturally ventilated office populations in Thailand. Gender and indoor settings have been investigated by Morgan and de Dear (2003), and the energy conservation potential due to flexible dress-code such as the Super Cool Biz initiative in Japan was discussed by Indraganti, Ooka and Rijal (2013) and Tanabe, Iwahashi and Tsushima (2012)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
