Thermal perceptions, general adaptation methods and occupant's idea about the trade-off between thermal comfort and energy saving in hot-humid regions

A field study conducted in workplaces and residences in Taiwan is carried out to clarify two questions in detail: (1) do people in the tropical climate regions demonstrate a correlation between thermal sensation and thermal dissatisfaction the same as the PMV-PPD formula in the ISO 7730; and (2) does the difference in opportunities to choose from a variety of methods to achieve thermal comfort affects thermal perceptions of occupants? A new predicted formula of percentage of dissatisfied (PD) relating to mean thermal sensation votes (TSVs) is proposed for hot and humid regions. Besides an increase in minimum rate of dissatisfied from 5% to 9%, a shift of the TSV with minimum PD to the cool side of sensation scale is suggested by the new proposed formula. It also reveals that the limits of TSV corresponding to 80% acceptability for hot and humid regions are -1.45 and +0.65 rather than -0.85 and +0.85 suggested by ISO 7730. It is revealed in the findings that the effectiveness, availability and cost of a thermal adaptation method can affect the interviewees' thermal adaptation behaviour. According to the discussion of interviewees' idea about the trade-off between thermal comfort and energy saving, it is found that an energy-saving approach at the cost of sacrificing occupant's thermal comfort is difficult to set into action, but those ensure the occupant's comfort are more acceptable and can be easily popularized. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.