Question-and-Answer Resource for the Building Energy Modeling Community
 | 1 | initial version |
Adriaan,
While it's still true that our standard definitions for things like PMV and PPD cater towards men from those earlier time periods, most of the full calculations provide different coefficients for gender and clothing. In that respect, it's up to the designer to compare them all and do some averaging. For example, this calculator by the CBE is pretty helpful is seeing the difference between clothing levels (while it's true that men and women on average perceive comfort slightly differently even with the same level of clothing, I think that has less of an effect than the CLO levels. http://comfort.cbe.berkeley.edu/
It's also interesting to note that in specific scenarios, we find the reverse results. Specifically in mild climates in buildings that don't have AC (It's not uncommon in older buildings in San Francisco for example) where it's socially acceptable for woman to wear sandals and skirts, men are still stuck in shoes and pants and so are more uncomfortable. Of course that's a minority. In addition to changing our standard calculations, I think we need to move to working conditions where it's suitable for everyone to adjust their clothing to suit the climate - especially in conjunction with adaptive comfort.
| | 2 | No.2 Revision |
Adriaan,
While it's still true that our standard definitions for things like PMV and PPD cater towards men from those earlier time periods, most of the full calculations provide different coefficients for gender and clothing. In that respect, it's up to the designer to compare them all and do some averaging. For example, this calculator by the CBE is pretty helpful is seeing the difference between clothing levels (while it's true that men and women on average perceive comfort slightly differently even with the same level of clothing, I think that has less of an effect than the CLO levels. http://comfort.cbe.berkeley.edu/
It's also interesting to note that in specific scenarios, we find the reverse results. Specifically in mild climates in buildings that don't have AC (It's not uncommon in older buildings in San Francisco for example) where it's socially acceptable for woman to wear sandals and skirts, men are still stuck in shoes and pants and so are more uncomfortable. Of course that's a minority. In addition to changing our standard calculations, I think we need to move to working conditions where it's suitable for everyone to adjust their clothing to suit the climate - especially in conjunction with adaptive comfort.
