THERMO-NEUTRALITY OF NON-AIRCONDITIONED BUILDING OCCUPANTS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Applying the concepts and methods developed in advanced countries, this academic exercise attempts to determine the thermo-neutrality of non-airconditioned building occupants in Singapore. Three methods were applied to determine the thermo-neutrality: probit analysis, regression analysis and rational comfort indices. A one-month long thermal comfort survey was conducted in blocks of Housing Development Board flats during August. Five hundred and eighty-three respondents were interviewed and their subjective judgements on the thermal environment, together with their clothing insulation and level of metabolic heat production, and the climatic elements, were recorded. By probit analysis, thermo-neutrality was calculated as 28.5°C in operative temperature. This value is considered the 'true' neutral temperature due to the superiority of the technique in determining non-linear relationship between variables. Regression analysis, the use of which is restricted by the linearity assumption, gave the operative temperature as 28.4°C. The negligible difference between the thermo-neutralities given by these two statistical techniques lends confidence to the use of regression equation for predicting thermal sensation votes.