Thermal adaptation of the elderly during summer in a hot humid area: Psychological, behavioral, and physiological responses

Wu, Y., Liu, H., Li, B., Kosonen, R., Kong, D., Zhou, S. and Yao, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4269-7224 (2019) Thermal adaptation of the elderly during summer in a hot humid area: Psychological, behavioral, and physiological responses. Energy and Buildings, 203. 109450. ISSN 0378-7788 doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109450

Abstract/Summary

Elderly demand for thermal comfort and energy conservation in senior citizen centers is increasing in an aging society. To reveal the thermal responses of the elderly in a warm summer environment, a field study involving experimental measurements was conducted in Chongqing, China. The study included 333 subjects in 17 residential buildings and 119 subjects in 6 elderly nursing homes; it showed that elderly persons as passive users of air conditioners preferred cooling by natural ventilation. The mean thermal sensation vote was lower than estimates obtained from the PMV model in warm environments. The physiological responses of eight elderly subjects (65 ± 3) were measured in a climate chamber at 18 °C and 34 °C and compared with those from eight college students (22 ± 1) and eight middle-aged subjects (50 ± 5). In this chamber, oral temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate of elderly and middle-aged persons were determined to be almost constant as the air temperature was changed to a hot/cold environment for 30 min, a different result from that of the young subjects. However, the skin temperature for all age groups showed variation with air temperature, suggesting skin temperature as an optimal monitoring parameter for the entire population.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/86766
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of the Built Environment > Energy and Environmental Engineering group
Publisher	Elsevier
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