Thermal comfort and adaptation of the elderly in free-running environments in Shanghai, China

- Thermal comfort and adaptive behaviour of elderly in Shanghai was assessed.
- Elderly had low thermal sensitivity and preferred neutral thermal environment.
- Two common thermal adaptation methods were clothing and window adjustment.
- Adaptation methods had limited effects in summer, no obvious effects in winter.

This paper presents a field investigation on the thermal environment of elderly facilities in Shanghai, China. The thermal comfort and adaptive behaviour of the elderly in free-running environments were analysed through questionnaire surveys and physical measurements. For this purpose, a total of 17 elderly facilities with 42 buildings and 672 healthy elderly people over 70 were randomly selected. Results indicated that, in winter, the actual neutral temperature was lower than the predicted mean vote (PMV) temperatures, while in summer there was no significant difference between the actual thermal neutrality temperatures and the PMV predicted ones. The elderly preferred neutral thermal environments, but their thermal sensitivity was low and they were not sensitive to changes in temperature. The thermal adaptation behaviour of the elderly exhibited seasonal differences. The two most commonly used thermal adaptation methods in winter and summer were to change clothing and open or close windows. In winter, the effect of changing clothing on thermal comfort was not obvious, and opening or closing windows did not effectively regulate the indoor thermal environment. In summer, changing clothing played an important role in thermal adaptation, but the adjustment was limited, while opening or closing windows adjusted indoor temperature and wind speed, thereby improving the thermal comfort of the elderly. Furthermore, the results of this study may be a useful reference when designing or managing thermal comfortable environment for the elderly.