TY - JOUR
T1 - Are 'class A' temperature requirements realistic or desirable?
AU - Arens, Edward
AU - Humphreys, Michael A.
AU - de Dear, Richard
AU - Zhang, Hui
PY - 2010/1
Y1 - 2010/1
N2 - It requires more energy to maintain a narrow indoor temperature range than a broader range, in which the building may be allowed to float with reduced conditioning for longer periods of time. A narrow range should presumably be preferable to the building occupants to justify its increased energy cost. At what widths are temperature ranges detected, preferred, or judged unacceptable? Three databases of occupant satisfaction in buildings are used to examine the acceptability of three classes of temperature range currently employed in the ISO and European standards, and proposed for the ASHRAE standard. These are alternatively identified as class A, B, and C, or category I, II, and III, but their specifications are identical. The A class (I category) is found to confer no relative satisfaction benefit to individuals or to realistic building occupancies. In addition, the differences in B and C class satisfaction are small.
AB - It requires more energy to maintain a narrow indoor temperature range than a broader range, in which the building may be allowed to float with reduced conditioning for longer periods of time. A narrow range should presumably be preferable to the building occupants to justify its increased energy cost. At what widths are temperature ranges detected, preferred, or judged unacceptable? Three databases of occupant satisfaction in buildings are used to examine the acceptability of three classes of temperature range currently employed in the ISO and European standards, and proposed for the ASHRAE standard. These are alternatively identified as class A, B, and C, or category I, II, and III, but their specifications are identical. The A class (I category) is found to confer no relative satisfaction benefit to individuals or to realistic building occupancies. In addition, the differences in B and C class satisfaction are small.
KW - Acceptability
KW - Category
KW - Class A
KW - PMV
KW - Setpoint temperature
KW - Standard
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70249130530&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.03.014
DO - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.03.014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:70249130530
SN - 0360-1323
VL - 45
SP - 4
EP - 10
JO - Building and Environment
JF - Building and Environment
IS - 1
ER -