Occupant’s Perception and Preference of Thermal Environment in Free-running Buildings in China

The purpose of this paper was to present the occupants’ perception and preferences of thermal environments in free-running buildings in China. A study of the thermal environments in eight university dormitory buildings was conducted from September 2008 to July 2009 in Chongqing, China. A total of 1829 returned questionnaires were collected. Indoor and outdoor air temperatures, relative humidity and air velocities were measured while the questionnaire surveys were conducted. The scores were given based on the subjective scales used for the study on the students’ indoor thermal perception and preferences. The accepted temperature range was 15.9—28.2°C. The preferred temperature was about 23.2°C. The neutral temperature was 22.1° C. A higher tolerance of temperature was shown by the occupants in this sub-tropical climatic region of China. The relationship between thermal preference and actual thermal sensation in different seasons was also analysed. People’s air movement sensation was related to their thermal sensation. The majority of subjects (53%) were satisfied with their indoor air humidity when the thermal sensation was neutral. The relationship between humidity sensation and preferences showed that the effect of humidity on thermal comfort should not be ignored at high and low temperatures. Student dormitory buildings were used in this study to provide comparatively worse case information on occupants’ thermal comfort characteristics in residential buildings in China.