.n International Journal Thq use al fuel, the conve &ion ,f fuel to power, the use of power. to make co~sum~r g~o.ds, l!al equ ipment and t 1impr Ne food yields are of par~mount 1_mpo.rta_nce. in maintaining im roving the sta n ' rd / living in developed countries and m ellminat!ng hunger and App/id Elirrgy II (1982) 243- 288 1.· er1: in underdevelo ed .reas. With the increased awareness that fossil fuel_s are ~ot / :haustible and that th .... clear power industry will be hard-pressed to supply the mcr6'smg f 1and for electricity, it is imperative to make the most effective use .of a.II our energy r:16u_rces. •journal is aimed at bridgin~ the gap bet~een the f~ndame~tal ~c1ent1st who rarely on s 1 d ~r s (..I} problems of translating his research into practical applications and the ma ag er/ ch 1 ~f u· ineer who feels that the general run of scientific papers is too specialised t concern his 1 company. · 1· d COMFORT THEORY AND PRACTICE: BARRIERS TO THE \11 riginal scientific papers, reports and reviews pertinent to the subject o app 1e ene!gy CONSERVATION OF ENERGY BY BUILDING ; broadest sense will be considered. These may range from ener~y resourcls. the co~bust1on ~\\:::: Jels and heat transfer through the process of power gener~tlon t~ t e economic use of OCCUPANTS •er in industry. Papers on peripheral problems, such as pollution aris1 g from energy usage, w111 be most acceptable. Types of contributions IAN COOPER Research papers Short communications Review articles Book reviews: letters to the Edit The Marrin Cenrre for Archireclura/ and Urban Srudies, Technical notes Reports of conferences and mee ngs Deparrmenr of Architecture, Unfoersity of Cambridge, Cambridge, Great Britain Submission of papers Papers should be sent to the publishers, to the Edita~ r~ f essor S. _D. Prob~rt. Centre for Thermal Insulation Studies, School of Mechanical Eng1 eermg, Cranfield ln_st1t~te of Tech­ nology, Cranfield, Bedford M~43 OAL England} or t members of the Editorial Board for SUMMARY submission to the Editor. Special regulations for readers in_ the USA . Three related issues are examined in this paper. First, international derelopments in This journal has been registered with the Copy 1ght ~learanc~ Center, Inc., 21 C?ngress the theoretical bases ofcomfor t research over the past rwenty~fire years are outlined. Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA. Consent is given 6r copym~ of article~ fo_r personal or mt~r.nal use, or for the personal or internal use of specifi cl ients. This con~ent 1s given on the ~ond1t1on Secondly, practical applications of the findings of that research, in Brituin Ol'er the that the copier pay through the Center the p -copy fee. stated m the code on the first p_age last fifteen years, to designing systems for controlling enl'ironmental cundition.1· i11 of each article for copying beyond that perm ted by Sections 107 or 108 of the US Copyright buildings are considered. Thirdly, the implications ofcomfort theory and practice fur Law. If no code appears in an article, th author has not given broa? consent. to cop~ and permission to copy must be obtained dir ctly from the author. All articles published prior ~o attempts to consen·e energy in non-domestic buildings are discussed. It is co11c/ucled 1979 may be copied for a per-copy fe of US$2.75, also payable throug~ th_e C_enter. This that, because ofdere/opment s which hatre occurred during this period, there noll' exist consent does not extend to other kin s of copying, such as for general d1stnbut1on, resale, deeply entrenched bur restricted nori ons about the nawre ofco mj c1rt itself, and ahem/ advertising and promotion purposetr for creating new collective works. Subscriptions . how, and by whom, acceprable enuironmental conditions should be created and Four issues per volume-three lumes per year (volume approx. 320 pages) . Subscription maintained in such buildings. The existence of these not ions facilitates expropriation price for 1982 (Volumes-10, 11. 2} : UK, £144 . 0~; USA and .c~nada, £158.~0; elsewhere, from building occupants of their autonomy to control their own immediate £165.00. All prices include . ostage and packing. Subscnpt1ons for_ d_elivery to USA. Canada, Japan and Australia re air-speeded at no extra charge. Subscription orders should environment and its transference, by means of automated and centralised e111 ·iron- be addressed to : mental control systems, lo technical specialists. \ Applied Science ublishers ltd, Ripple Road, Barking, Essex, England. N 0 t•: The selection end pr7s 1at ion of materiel end the opinions expressed in this publication ere the sole responsibility of the aulhors concerned. UST 0 MEMBERS OF EDITORIAL BOARD INTRODUCTION Professor S. D. Probo....(Centre lorThermal lnsulalion Professor G. lenzavecchle, Comiteto Nazionale per Sludies, School of Mj'lh~~ l c al Engineering. Cranfield L"Energie Nucleere, Viale Regine Mergherita, 125- 'There i·s an underlying assumption that the best thermal environment never need s to be noticed and that Institute of Technolog~ . Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England 0019B, Rome, Italy. (EDITOR) . once an objectively "comfortable" thermal environment has been provided, all of our thermal needs will Profeasor Jean F. Louis, Associate Director. Energy Prole11or G. Antonini, D'partement de Genie ha_ve been met. T he u~ of all our extremely sophisticated environmental control systems is directed to Leboretory, Messechuseus lnSl itute of Technology, this one standard comfort zone cond!tions . .. {But) the thermal en vironment al so ha> Chimique, Universi1' de Technologie de Compi~gne, Energy Conversion Program, Cambridge. Mass. 02139, e~d- t o p rov1d~ B p 233. 60206 Compi~gne Cedex, France. USA. the poten ual for sensuah\y, cu ltural roles, and symbolism that need not, indeed should not be designed ou t of existence in the name of a thermally neutral world.' (Heschong, 1979, pp. 16-17).' Professor J. M. Be6r, Department of Chemical Profesaor F. Roberts, Summerfield House, Bain­ Eri ,p .. etring, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, bridge, Leyburn, North Yorkshire, England. Room 66-552. Cambridge. Massachusells 02139, USA. Four years ago in Britain, the Working Party on Buildings of 1..he Advisory Council Dr A. T. Churchman. Director. Eleciricity Council Dr Fred L. Robson, Utility Power Systems, United Research Centre, Capenhurst, Chester. England. Technologies Research Centre, East Hartford, on Energy Conserva tion (1978, pp. 10-1 1) recommended to government tha t the Connecticut 06108, USA. Dr Mu. Elmu, Marlollaan 14, The Hague, The ability to control en vi ronmental condi tions in non-domestic buildings sho uld be. No iherlands. Professor A. M. Squires, Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic removed from the majority of their occupants and, by au tomation an<l centralis- Dr ;;!. Philip Hemmond, R & D Associates, P.O . Box Institute end State University. Blacksburg, Virginia 5695. Mar ina del Rey, California. USA. 24061 , USA. ation, be placed in the hands of such buildings' owners or managers. In this paper. I Dr J . S Harrison. Assis1ent Direc1or. Research and Dr D. J. Swindon. Man.gar. Utilization and Tech- 243 1 Do,olo ~ : nen1 D!pa_r1111enl J.C~~~ - ~~~~n:, ,~~l"~~.,8~~ '. noloov Transfer, East Midlands Electricity Board, P.O. Arrlicd .Energy 0306-2.619/82/0011-0243/$02·75 l.' Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1982 n~-~.· - ~---·· ··~~----~-------------------------------=--'-------- 244 IAN COOPER COMFORT THEORY AND PRACTICE 245 have sought both to trace some of the strands of thinking which underlie the Similarly, Hawkes (1975, p.40) remarked that: formulation of this advice and to suggest some of its social implications for the ' ... th_e emphasis of r~sear_ch to aid the design of the thermal environment has been to devis, conservation of energy in non-dome tic bui ldings . In part, the advice which the tech~1ques fo~ the est1mauc;in c;if the d7mand whi~h will be made on environmental control sysl?ble \: orking Party offered reflects, and so reinforces, government's prevailing con­ heat~ng, c_oohng and venttlatton. This has, quite reasonably, meant that there has been a ',:­ rel~t10nsh_1p ~etween_the state of.the systems technology and both the prediction methods used and'; \" ict ion that onl y those motivated by econo mic self-interest should be allowed to design objectives which are specified.' control energy consumption in buildi ngs. 1 But, beyond this economjc reasoning, environments has become the specialised responsibility thdr advice also sprin g from what a re now deeply entrenched notions arising from . oe~igning interna~ ci r environmental engineers: the latter are required, Mcintyre (1973, p. 67) explained, building science about the nature of comfort itself and about how, and by whom, to produce a thermal environment: comfortable conditions should be provided within buildings. One of my primary purposes in what follows is to outline developments in building science and design ' .. ~hich is _the optimum for the occupants <?f the conditioned space. [The engineer] ... designs the practice, predominantly over the past I 0 to 15 years, which have led to the creation serv1~s to g1ye. a set of ~alues o~ the approp~1ate physical variables, i.e. air and radiant temperature, relative humidity and air velocity. The design values of these parameters are obtained from our of a narrow concept of what comfort means to people in buildings-a concept which knowledge of human requirements for thermal comfort.' fails to encompass the plethora of features which may render internal environments ~uch knowl~dge is seen as arising from the findings of building science: design of acceptable or unaq:eptable to those who use them. I have also attempted to internal environments has been identified as 'the principal scientific problem of illustrate that, when applied in practice, this limited concept of comfort has resulted architecture' (Cowan 1978, p.