A comparative analysis of thermal acceptability in offices in India and Japan

Abstract

India's building energy consumption is increasing rapidly. Fukushima disaster reshaped Japan's energy perspective. Adaptive comfort standards need to be developed for these countries. We conducted a fourteen-month thermal comfort survey in India and a summer season study in Japan. This data was analyzed to develop an algorithm to predict thermal acceptability (TA). A direct question resulted in higher TA, than otherwise in Japan, perhaps due to deep-rooted cultural ethos. This trend is reversed in India. At 24 - 30 °C and at 27 - 28 °C of indoor temperature, 80 % thermal acceptability could be achieved in Japan and India respectively.