The Chinese Evaluation Standard for the Indoor Thermal Environment in Free-running Buildings

Designing for indoor thermal environmental conditions is one of the key elements in the energy efficient building design process. This paper overviews the investigation of thermal comfort conditions in China and relevant energy efficiency issues. A development of the Chinese evaluation standard for indoor thermal environments based on intensive field and laboratory studies has been introduced. Over 20,000 subjects participated in the field study for the different climate zones in China and over 500 subjects have been involved in laboratory studies. International standards such as the ASHRAE55, ISO7730, DIN EN Standards have been reviewed. The research findings reveal that there is a need for updating 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 for different climate zones in China.