Thermal comfort in buildings

This chapter provides an overview of thermal comfort as it relates to buildings. It describes the two main approaches used to predict the comfort temperature, and explains their inherent flaws as well as their positive points. The chapter reviews and compares thermal comfort field studies in naturally ventilated indoor environments. It also describes the best method for calculating the comfort temperature and comfort zone in passively cooled vernacular buildings in hot and dry climates in Iran. The feeling of thermal comfort is associated with the characteristics of the occupants&s; environment as well as with their clothing and activities. Radiation affects thermal comfort through the radiant exchanges between the body and the surfaces that surround it. The chapter describes the methods which have been used to deal with subjective sensations of comfort. The adaptive model, on the other hand, states that, in occupant-controlled, naturally conditioned spaces, the thermal response and thus the comfort zone are affected by the outdoor climate.