Exploring the dynamic process of human thermal adaptation: A study in teaching building

• This study explores the dynamic process of thermal adaptation.
• Comparative experiment in teaching buildings was conducted.
• People acclimated to one indoor climate can adapt to another.
• Human thermal adapting process is not easy and will cost some time.
• The result can serve as useful reference for future thermal comfort studies.

In light of growing concerns about climate change and energy conservation, the adaptive thermal comfort theory has become a research focus. However, to date, few about the dynamic process of human thermal adaptation has been explored. In this paper, we ask the question as to whether people accustomed to one indoor climate can readapt to another one? And what about the timescale and difficulty of thermal re-adaptation? A comparative study was conducted in China where wintertime indoor thermal environments remarkably varied between the northern region (with pervasive district heating) and southern region (without district heating). Four college student groups were surveyed in teaching buildings and over 2000 valid responses were collected. The results show that occupants’ subjective thermal comfort perception is strongly influenced by their previous thermal experience. People accustomed to indoor climate excellence are able to readapt themselves to environments with lesser quality, however, the adapting process may take some time. The effort of this study shed some light on the dynamic process of human thermal adaptation, which is helpful to shape the future indoor climate.