Adaptive thermal comfort

Adaptive comfort builds on the principle that people experience differently and adapt, up to a certain extent, to
a variety of indoor conditions, depending on their clothing, their activity and general physical condition.
Therefore, contrary to the conventional cooling which is based on pre-calculated temperatures and humidity
levels, the adaptive approach is based on a non fixed set of conditions, taking into account thermal perception
and behavior of the user, requiring him to take an active role in controlling his indoor environment.

It indicates that human comfort depends upon historic and relevant outdoor conditions and one’s ability to
control the immediate environment. It suggests that humans adapt to a wider range of thermal conditions. This
could have a tremendous impact on comfort conditions in buildings, and hence on energy consumption.

People in warm, tropical countries need a different range of thermal comfort conditions than those in temperate
climates. Those permanently living in conditioned spaces have a narrower band of comfort as compared to
people living in naturally ventilated buildings. People have higher expectations of thermal conditions when
they are in an air conditioned environment, but their expectations do not remain high when they are in
naturally ventilated buildings. Two independent studies in India and Japan indicated that close to 80% of
occupants are comfortable with indoor operating temperatures of 24-28 oC in these countries. This thermal
band becomes wider in the presence of air motion around occupants. This is much higher than the thermal
comfort range defined for air conditioned buildings by ASHRAE 55 – 2010, followed more in north American
countries.

Deployment of adaptive thermal comfort models could pave the way for affordable and sustainable cooling.

Designing and operating buildings for the thermal comfort range of 24-28 oC opens up adoption of a range of
low energy cooling solutions, instead of relying solely on conventional compressor based air conditioning.
These include non-vapour compression cooling technologies, the use of natural ventilation (NV) and mixed
mode (MM) operation, i.e. using a combination of air cooling systems and natural ventilation, in cooler months
or times of the day. Deployment of low energy cooling systems can be supported by building envelope design
using high performance wall and roofing materials, glazing coupled with operable windows; and, encouraging
climate-appropriate attire and behaviour change to combat heat.

Thermal Comfort in India

With a better understanding of the thermal comfort range for Indians, India can tackle heat stress in a more
affordable and sustainable way by designing and operating buildings for improved IEQ and thermal comfort..

 Air conditioning is not the only way to achieve thermal comfort in India’s work
places, homes, institutions and recreational buildings.
 Buildings can be designed and operated to exploit natural ventilation and mixed
mode operations to meet occupants’ thermal comfort and other IEQ requirements.
 Awareness campaigns need to be conducted to maintain indoor temperatures in
accordance with adaptive thermal comfort theory (IMAC in case of India) in all air-
conditioned buildings. Broadly it translates to an indoor temperature range of 24-
28°C, this range can be extended in presence of air motion provided by fans.

Keeping Cool in India

The Sustainable and Smart Space Cooling Coalition believes in LBNL’s Lean, Mean, Green strategy for
sustainable & smart space cooling, i.e. reduce cooling loads, promote use of the most energy-efficient
solutions, and power cooling with green fuels.

Identifying and adopting the optimal thermal comfort range for India would facilitate better building design
and more efficient building operations, while accommodating occupants’ thermal comfort and improving
productivity and health.

Now is the time to incorporate adaptive thermal comfort standards, along with IEQ, to develop cooling
solutions with smaller energy and GHG footprints.