Investigation and analysis of indoor thermal environment in welfare centers for the aged in Shanghai

To find out the status of indoor thermal environment in the centers, investigates 109 old people in 8 centers from December 2010 to April 2011 by questionnaire and field test. The statistical results indicate that all the bedrooms investigated are equipped with air conditioners, while the thermal environment is still unsatisfactory. Only 44.9% of the measured indoor temperatures meet the specification of the Design standard for energy efficiency of residential buildings in hot summer and cold winter zone, while 75% of thermal sensation votes is neutral. The predominant measure of thermal adaption is basking. The temperature of thermal neutrality is 16.63 ℃ and the acceptable temperature range is 18.32 to 22.08 ℃ in winter for the old people in Shanghai. A regression analysis shows that the mean thermal sensation reported by subjects is different from the predicted mean vote. The result of one-sample t-test shows that the thermal sensation is significantly affected by physical fitness of the old people (P＜0.05).