Investigation of thermal comfort in office buildings in temperate zone: A case study of Kunming area

Taking the Kunming area as an example, the indoor thermal environment and thermal comfort of office buildings are analysed through subjective questionnaire surveys. Survey findings reveal that only 30.95% of respondents perceive thermal comfort during summer, while approximately 31% of respondents feel uncomfortable or worse, and adaptive strategies for summer temperature regulation predominantly include natural ventilation (via open windows), electric fans, and air conditioners. In winter, merely 28.57% of respondents report thermal comfort, with roughly 40% of respondents expressing discomfort, and common heating solutions such as portable heaters, radiant heaters, air conditioners, underfloor heating, and oil-filled radiators are widely utilized. Notably, oil-filled radiators are found to deliver suboptimal thermal comfort performance. These findings offer valuable guidance for optimizing the thermal comfort design of office buildings in the temperate zone.