Defining air-conditioning and heating seasons based on human thermal perception and building energy efficiency

The division methods of the current astronomical seasons and traditional climatic seasons are not appropriate for determining the extend of air-conditioning period and heating period (APHP). Thus, a new method for specifying the APHP based on human thermal perception and building energy efficiency is developed. This method uses the 5-day sliding effective temperature (SET) as an evaluation index, and with 10 °C and 24 °C as the separation nodes, integrating the influence of the ground thermal storage and building envelope thermal inertia on human thermal perception with the building energy efficiency to confirm the exact start and end date of the seasons. The start and end dates of the APHP of 14 representative cities are obtained, and the APHP division method is validated with the measured data of a building in Chengdu. The result of this study can be an important reference for both the energy-saving management of a large amount of split-type cooling and heating equipment in the public institutions and the energy-saving operation of the more and more renewable energy conservation demonstration residential areas with centralized cooling and heating system in southern China.