There are two assignments, one uses the CBE Thermal Comfort tool (the CBE looks like an interesting org), the second is a quiz. There's also an optional activity that I'd like to complete but I'm kind of leaving this stuff until the last minute. All three are due before July 14.
Slides are here.
The above World Weather File Generator takes a TMY file and creates a projection of it into the future based on climate change predictions. Interestingly it works all in an excel file apparently.
The fact that over 90% of our time is spent in buildings is a good thing to remember.
We all have different preferences re comfort but non-negotiable is our core temperature: 37 deg C.
Thermal comfort can be hard to define (e.g. absence of discomfort?, subjective satisfaction with environment?). Ultimately you have to ask people (e.g. 7 point scale).
The surface of our body is ~32 deg C. Thermodynamically in a room, a person can be thought of as a lightbulb (radiating about 100W).
ASHRAE 55: the "famous" standard for comfort compliance in buildings. The CBE tool in the resources above is for working with ASHRAE 55. There are two possible compliance paths. In an air-conditioned space, Predictive Mean Vote. In a naturally ventilated place, Adaptive Temperature.
People are always happier when they have control over their environment.
The assignment was really straightforward again, first part was just plugging numbers into the CBE tool, and second part was plugging places into the Climaplus tool.
I'm going to leave the optional assignment uncompleted as I've run out of time.