Thermal Comfort Essay

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There are many definitions of thermal comfort, which depends on the aims and expectations of those who defined it (Chappells, and Shove, 2004). Jiao (2010) stated that, the rate at which human body gain and lose energy, and also the state of comfort is satisfactory once all heat flow in and out of the body are in equilibrium. Also, (ASHRAE 2004), described it as “the state of mind that expresses satisfaction with the surrounding environment.” This definition highlights subjective and psychological dimension of thermal comfort.

2.1.1 The heat balance
In order to maintain a constant internal human body temperature, the heat which is continuously produced by the body must be dissipated to the environment (Jiao, 2010). From the energy exchange
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Thus, thermal index combined various factors into a single variable, these factors according to ASHRAE (2001), the instantaneous effects on the sensory and physiological responses of the body are added up. Local micro climate greatly influence thermal comfort sensation of people. Therefore, people’s decision to use a particular outdoor space depends on the microclimate of that space (Chen and Ng, 2012).
Essentially, microclimatic conditions are critical parameter for the use of outdoor spaces. There are four basic environmental parameters influencing the overall thermal comfort (refer to figure 2.1). It include: air temperature, radiation, relative humidity and wind velocity, (Johansson, and Emmanuel, 2006; Huang, 2007 and Makaremi, et al., 2012). These parameters affect human response to thermal environments (Parsons, 2003; Noor Hanita, 2004). The tolerance of outdoor thermal environments varies for people in different climates, and they have different thermal perception given by the same thermal environment (Nikolopoulou and Lykoudis, 2006; Thorsson et al. 2007; Lin and Matzarakis; 2008; Didel and Dilshan 2009; Noémi and János
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It includes all the physical changes they make in order to adapt to the environment. Physical factors which majorly influence human thermal comfort comprises of air temperature and radiant temperature. (Nikolopoulou et al., 2001) classified this physical adaptation into reactive and interactive. Reactive adaptation includes only personal changes such as changing of clothing levels, position, posture and metabolic heat with the intake of cold or hot drinks. Whereas, interactive adaptations, involves environmental changes in order to improve thermal conditions of the people, for example, usage of air conditioners or opening of windows.
However, Thorsson et al. (2004; 2007) lamented that the outdoor thermal comfort through interactive adaptations may not be achievable, because the people have little ability to alter their environment. Therefore, in comparison with indoor microclimates, people’s responses to outdoor may be

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