An introduction to the Chinese Evaluation Standard for the indoor thermal environment

•The Chinese Evaluation Standard for the indoor thermal environment has been developed based on this research work.•The method of thermal comfort evaluation has been introduced.•Large amount of data have been collected in field and laboratory to form the database of this research.•Importance of the role of standard in improvement of energy efficiency has been emphasized.

Designing for indoor thermal environmental conditions is one of the key elements in the energy efficient building design process. This paper introduces a development of the Chinese national Evaluation Standard for indoor thermal environments (Evaluation Standard). International standards including the ASHRAE55, ISO7730, DIN EN, and CIBSE Guide-A have been reviewed and referenced for the development of the Evaluation Standard. In addition, over 28,000 subjects participated in the field study from different climate zones in China and over 500 subjects have been involved in laboratory studies. The research findings reveal that there is a need to update the Chinese thermal comfort standard based on local climates and people's habitats. This paper introduces in detail the requirements for the thermal environment for heated and cooled buildings and free-running buildings in China.