Abstract
This study focused on thermal acceptability and related adaptive behavioral characteristics of university students in mixed-mode and natural ventilated classrooms. From October 2018 to January 2019, an indoor field investigation was carried out in a university in Beijing, which is located in the Cold Climate Zone of China. A total of 158 student volunteers in 19 different classrooms were tracked and investigated as the participants and the environmental parameters in every classroom were monitored regularly. The researchers gathered 1361 valid datasets of subjective questionnaires and objective measurements concerning occupants’ thermal comfort. The neutral operative temperature was found to be 23.1 °C using linear regression analysis. Females’ neutral temperatures were a little higher than males’, ranging between 0.2 and 0.5 °C. Occupants are more prone to adopt behaviors that have little impact on others and more likely to adopt spatial behaviors as the temperature increased. The behaviors taken the most are taking clothing adjustments, food intaking, windows, doors, and reseat. There were stronger correlations between adaptive behaviors and the operative temperature. If the current indoor temperature is replaced by a neutral temperature for heating, energy efficiency will be improved. The research results can serve as a guideline that evaluates indoor thermal comfort in educational buildings and provide more theoretical support for architectural design in the region.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ASHRAE, ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55─Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, 2017.
Brager, G. S., & de Dear, R. J. (2000). A standard for natural ventilation. ASHRAE Journal, 42(10), 21–28.
CEN. EN 15251, Indoor Environmental Input Parameters for Design and Assessment of Energy Performance of Buildings Addressing Indoor Air Quality, Thermal Environment, Lighting and Acoustics, CEN (European Committee for Standardization), Brussels, 2007.
de Dear, R., Kim, J., Candido, C., & Deuble, M. (2015). Adaptive thermal comfort in Australian school classrooms. Building and Environment, 43(3), 383–398.
de Dear, R. J., & Brager, G. S. (1998). Developing an adaptive model of thermal comfort and preference. ASHRAE Transactions, 104(1), 145–167.
de Dear, R. J., & Brager, G. S. (2002, July). Thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings: Revisions to ASHRAE standard 55. Energy and Buildings, Energy and Buildings, 34(6), 549–561.
Eide, E. R., Showalter, M. H., & Goldhaber, D. D. (2010, February). The relation between children’s health and academic achievement. Children and Youth Services Review, 32(2), 231–238.
Fanger, P. O. (1972). Thermal comfort: Analysis and applications in environmental engineering. McGraw-Hill.
GB, GB 50176: Code for Thermal Design of Civil Building, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, 2016 (in Chinese).
Guerra-Santin, O., & Itard, L. (2010). Occupants’ behaviour: Determinants and effects on residential heating consumption. Building Research and Information, 38(3), 318–338.
Haverinen-Shaughnessy, U., Shaughnessy, R. J., Colec, E. C., Toyinbo, O., & Moschandreas, D. J. (2015, November). An assessment of indoor environmental quality in schools and its association with health and performance. Building and Environment, 93(1), 35–40.
ISO, EN ISO 7730: 2005, Ergonomics of the Thermal Environment—analytical Determination and Interpretation of Thermal Comfort Using Calculation of the PMV and PPD Indices and Local Thermal Comfort Criteria, International Standardization Organization, Geneva, 2005.
Jindal, A. (Sep. 2018). Thermal comfort study in naturally ventilated school classrooms in composite climate of India. Building and Environment, 142, 34–46.
Jowkar, M., Rijal, H. B., Montazami, A., Brusey, J., & Temeljotov-Salaj, A. (2020, July). The influence of acclimatization, age and gender-related differences on thermal perception in university buildings: Case studies in Scotland and England. Building and Environment, 179(15).
Karjalainen, S. (2012, April). Thermal comfort and gender: A literature review. Indoor Air, 22(2), 96–109.
Liu, J, Luo, Q., & Cai, T. (2019, June). Students Responses to Thermal Environments in University Classrooms in Zunyi, China. Materials Science and Engineering, Volume 592, International Conference on Manufacturing Technology, Materials and Chemical Engineering, pp. 14–16.
López-Pérez, L. A., Flores-Prieto, J. J., & Ríos-Rojas, C. (2019). Adaptive thermal comfort model for educational buildings in a hot-humid climate (Vol. 150). Elsevier Ltd.
Mendell, M. J., Eliseeva, E. A., Davies, M. M., Spears, M., Lobscheid, A., Fisk, W. J., & Apte, M. G. (2013, December). Association of classroom ventilation with reduced illness absence: A prospective study in California elementary schools. Indoor Air, 23(6), 515–528.
Pérez-Lombard, L., Ortiz, J., & Pout, C. (2008). A review on buildings energy consumption information. Energy and Buildings, 40, 394–398.
Rijal, H. B., Humphreys, M. A., & Nicol, J. F. (2018 July). Development of a window opening algorithm based on adaptive thermal comfort to predict occupant behavior in Japanese dwellings. Japan Architectural Review, 1(3), 310–321.
Rupp, R. F., de Dear, R., & Ghisi, E. (2018). Field study of mixed-mode office buildings in Southern Brazil using an adaptive thermal comfort framework. Energy and Buildings, 158, 1475–1486.
Shrestha, M., Rijal, H. B., Kayo, G., & Shukuya, M. (2021, March). A field investigation on adaptive thermal comfort in school buildings in the temperate climatic region of Nepal. Building and Environment, 190, 107523.
terMors, S., Hensen, J. L. M., Loomans, M. G. L. C., & Boerstra, A. C. (2011, December). Adaptive thermal comfort in primary school classrooms: Creating and validating PMV-based comfort charts. Building and Environment, 46(12), 2454–2461.
Wang, D., Yan, J. J., Liu, F., Wang, Y., Xu, Y., & Liu, J. (2017a, April). Student responses to classroom thermal environments in rural primary and secondary schools in winter. Building and Environment, 115, 104–117.
Wang, Z., Ning, H., Zhang, X., & Ji, Y. (2017b). Human thermal adaptation based on university students in China’s severe cold area. Science and Technology for the Built Environment, 23(3), 413–420. https://doi.org/10.1080/23744731.2016.1255495
Wang, Z., de Dear, R., Luo, M., Lin, B., He, Y., Ghahramani, A., & Zhu, Y. (2018, June). Individual difference in thermal comfort: A literature review. Building and Environment, 138(15), 181–193.
Yao, R. M., Liu, J., & Li, B. Z. (2010). Occupants’ adaptive responses and perception of thermal environment in naturally conditioned university classrooms. Applied Energy, 87(3), 15–22.
Zomorodian, Z. S., Tahsildoost, M., & Hafezi, M. (2016, June). Thermal comfort in educational buildings: A review article. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier Ltd, 59, 895–906.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission (Project number: KM201910016016) and the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology (Project number: 2019ZB09).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hao, S., Gou, Z., Zou, Y., Xing, X. (2021). Field Study on Thermal Comfort and Adaptive Behaviors of University Students in the Cold Climate Zone. In: Lau, S.S.Y., Li, J., Hao, S., Lu, S. (eds) Design and Technological Applications in Sustainable Architecture. Strategies for Sustainability(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80034-5_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80034-5_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-80033-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-80034-5
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)