Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan

The range of students’ classroom-based activities is generally restricted; therefore, individuals have limited options for adjusting themselves to the indoor thermal environment. This study investigated the comfort temperature and adaptive behaviour of university students in Malaysia and Japan. Clas...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Building and Environment
Main Author: Zaki S.A.; Damiati S.A.; Rijal H.B.; Hagishima A.; Abd Razak A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 2017
Online Access:https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85031121028&doi=10.1016%2fj.buildenv.2017.06.016&partnerID=40&md5=82bdaa545ef185e7bcd5f4eef647eee6
id 2-s2.0-85031121028
spelling 2-s2.0-85031121028
Zaki S.A.; Damiati S.A.; Rijal H.B.; Hagishima A.; Abd Razak A.
Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan
2017
Building and Environment
122

10.1016/j.buildenv.2017.06.016
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85031121028&doi=10.1016%2fj.buildenv.2017.06.016&partnerID=40&md5=82bdaa545ef185e7bcd5f4eef647eee6
The range of students’ classroom-based activities is generally restricted; therefore, individuals have limited options for adjusting themselves to the indoor thermal environment. This study investigated the comfort temperature and adaptive behaviour of university students in Malaysia and Japan. Classrooms in three universities (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia; Kyushu University, Japan) were set to one of two conditions during the summer season: mechanical cooling (CL) mode, where AC was switched on for cooling purposes, and free-running (FR) mode, where AC was switched off. A total of 1428 responses were obtained. In Japan, 93.5% of the sample was male, while more even gender distributions were found in Malaysian samples. Additionally, clo values were generally higher amongst male respondents. In Japan, the mean comfort operative temperatures in FR mode was found to be 25.1 °C, while in Malaysia it was 25.6 °C. In CL mode, mean comfort operative temperatures were found to be 26.2 °C and 25.6 °C for Japan and Malaysia, respectively. Comfort temperatures in FR mode were compatible with Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards, while those in CL mode were mostly within Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) guidelines. While high proportions of students in both countries claimed that they did nothing to maintain their thermal comfort, the most common activity observed amongst Malaysian students was changing the AC temperature setting, due to the prevalence of CL in Malaysia. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd
Elsevier Ltd
3601323
English
Article

author Zaki S.A.; Damiati S.A.; Rijal H.B.; Hagishima A.; Abd Razak A.
spellingShingle Zaki S.A.; Damiati S.A.; Rijal H.B.; Hagishima A.; Abd Razak A.
Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan
author_facet Zaki S.A.; Damiati S.A.; Rijal H.B.; Hagishima A.; Abd Razak A.
author_sort Zaki S.A.; Damiati S.A.; Rijal H.B.; Hagishima A.; Abd Razak A.
title Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan
title_short Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan
title_full Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan
title_fullStr Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan
title_full_unstemmed Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan
title_sort Adaptive thermal comfort in university classrooms in Malaysia and Japan
publishDate 2017
container_title Building and Environment
container_volume 122
container_issue
doi_str_mv 10.1016/j.buildenv.2017.06.016
url https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85031121028&doi=10.1016%2fj.buildenv.2017.06.016&partnerID=40&md5=82bdaa545ef185e7bcd5f4eef647eee6
description The range of students’ classroom-based activities is generally restricted; therefore, individuals have limited options for adjusting themselves to the indoor thermal environment. This study investigated the comfort temperature and adaptive behaviour of university students in Malaysia and Japan. Classrooms in three universities (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia; Kyushu University, Japan) were set to one of two conditions during the summer season: mechanical cooling (CL) mode, where AC was switched on for cooling purposes, and free-running (FR) mode, where AC was switched off. A total of 1428 responses were obtained. In Japan, 93.5% of the sample was male, while more even gender distributions were found in Malaysian samples. Additionally, clo values were generally higher amongst male respondents. In Japan, the mean comfort operative temperatures in FR mode was found to be 25.1 °C, while in Malaysia it was 25.6 °C. In CL mode, mean comfort operative temperatures were found to be 26.2 °C and 25.6 °C for Japan and Malaysia, respectively. Comfort temperatures in FR mode were compatible with Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards, while those in CL mode were mostly within Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) guidelines. While high proportions of students in both countries claimed that they did nothing to maintain their thermal comfort, the most common activity observed amongst Malaysian students was changing the AC temperature setting, due to the prevalence of CL in Malaysia. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd
publisher Elsevier Ltd
issn 3601323
language English
format Article
accesstype
record_format scopus
collection Scopus
_version_ 1818940563130417152