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Environmental and human factors influencing thermal comfort of office occupants in hot-humid and hot-arid climates
journal contribution
posted on 2007-01-03, 11:59 authored by Tamara Erlandson, Krzysztof Cena, Richard de Dear, George HavenithGeorge HavenithThe effects of environmental and individual factors on thermal sensation in
air-conditioned office environments were analysed for two large, fully compatible
thermal comfort field studies in contrasting Australian climates. In the hot-humid
location of Townsville, 836 office workers were surveyed; 935 workers participated in
hot-arid Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Overall perceived work area temperature and measured
indoor operative temperature correlated moderately with thermal sensation for
Townsville (T) subjects but only perceived temperature correlated with Kalgoorlie-
Boulder (KB) sensation. Multiple regression analyses confirmed that indoor climatic
variables (including Predicted Mean Vote) contributed to actual thermal sensation vote
(24% T; 15% KB), with operative temperature having more of an effect in T than in KB.
Subsequent analyses of individual characteristics showed no linear contributions to
thermal sensation. The remaining variances were significantly related to perceived work
area temperature (7% additional explained variance in T; 12% in KB). Mann-Whitney analyses (after correction for climatic variables) showed that T subjects with higher job
satisfaction had thermal sensations closer to ‘neutral’. Males, healthier subjects, nonsmokers,
respondents with earlier survey times and underweight occupants had lower
median thermal sensations in KB. Townsville occupants appeared more adapted to their
outdoor climatic conditions than Kalgoorlie-Boulder respondents, perhaps due to limited
home air-conditioning. Further research into non-thermal impacts on gender-related
thermal acceptability is suggested.
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ERLANDSON, T. et al, 2003. Environmental and human factors influencing thermal comfort of office occupants in hot-humid and hot-arid climates. Ergonomics, 46 (6), pp. 616-628Publisher
© Taylor & FrancisPublication date
2003Notes
This article was published in the journal, Ergonomics [© Taylor & Francis] and is also available at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/00140139.aspISSN
0014-0139;1366-5847Language
- en