A comparison of calculated and subjective thermal comfort sensation in home and office environment

This study was conducted to investigate the accuracy of the PMV model in residential buildings in UK and to find out whether a true “context effect” exists in explaining discrepancies between predicted and observed thermal sensation of occupants. Sixteen participants were subjected to a thermal comfort study at both their homes and office. Each subject voted on their thermal sensation while air and mean radiant temperature, air velocity and relative humidity were recorded. The comparison of reported thermal sensation and those predicted using ISO 7730 showed that in general PMV under predicts the thermal sensation of occupants in both environments. The neutral temperatures found in homes and offices were respectively 3ºC and 2.5ºC lower than those predicted using ISO 7730. Together with 0.2ºC difference found between reported neutral temperatures at homes and offices, this suggests that there is a true context effect affecting occupants’ thermal sensation in different environments.