Study on Winter Comfort Temperature in Mixed Mode and HVAC Office Buildings in Japan

Supriya Khadka, Hom B. Rijal (), Katsunori Amano, Teruyuki Saito, Hikaru Imagawa, Tomoko Uno, Kahori Genjo, Hiroshi Takata, Kazuyo Tsuzuki, Takashi Nakaya, Daisaku Nishina, Kenichi Hasegawa and Taro Mori
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Supriya Khadka: Graduate School of Environmental and Information Studies, Tokyo City University, 3-3-1 Ushikubo-nishi, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama 224-8551, Japan
Hom B. Rijal: Department of Restoration Ecology and Built Environment, Tokyo City University, 3-3-1 Ushikubo-nishi, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama 224-8551, Japan
Katsunori Amano: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Teruyuki Saito: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Hikaru Imagawa: Osaka Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 5-16-1 Omiya, Asahi-ku, Osaka 535-8585, Japan
Tomoko Uno: Department of Architecture, Mukogawa Women’s University, 1-13 Tozaki-cho, Nishinomiya 663-8121, Japan
Kahori Genjo: Graduate School of Engineering, Nagasaki University, 1-14 Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan
Hiroshi Takata: Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima 739-8524, Japan
Kazuyo Tsuzuki: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Engineering, Kansai University, 3-3-35 Yamate-cho, Osaka 564-8680, Japan
Takashi Nakaya: Faculty of Engineering, Department of Architecture, Shinshu University, 4-17-1 Wakasato, Nagano 380-8553, Japan
Daisaku Nishina: Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan
Kenichi Hasegawa: Department of Architecture and Environment Systems, Akita Prefectural University, 84-4 Tsuchiya, Akita 015-0055, Japan
Taro Mori: Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: Comfort temperature is important to investigate because the chosen office indoor temperatures affect the energy used in a building, and a thermally comfortable environment makes the occupants be more productive. The effects of temperature on comfort are broadly recognized for thermal comfort. Japanese office buildings are well equipped with air-conditioning systems to improve the thermal comfort of the occupants. The main objectives of this research were to compare the winter comfort temperature in mixed mode (MM) and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) office buildings and to investigate the relationship between the comfort temperature and the indoor air temperature. This study measured the thermal environmental conditions of the office buildings and surveyed the thermal comfort of the occupants. The field survey was conducted during winter in seven office buildings located in the Aichi prefecture of Japan. In total, 4466 subjective votes were collected from 46 occupants. The result suggested that the occupants were found to be more satisfied with the thermal environment of MM buildings than that of HVAC office buildings. Overall, 95% of comfort temperatures were in the range 22~28 °C in MM and HVAC buildings, which were higher than the indoor temperature of 20 °C recommended by the Japanese government. The comfort temperature was highly correlated to the indoor air temperature of the MM buildings than to that of HVAC buildings. This indicated that the occupants were more adapted towards the given thermal environment of MM buildings.

Keywords: field survey; office buildings; mixed mode; HVAC; thermal sensation vote; indoor air temperature; Griffiths’ method; comfort temperature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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