Comfort theory and practice: Barriers to the conservation of energy by building occupants

Three related issues are examined in this paper. First, international developments in the theoretical bases of comfort research over the past twenty-five years are outlined. Secondly, practical applications of the findings of that research, in Britain over the last fifteen years, to designing systems for controlling environmental conditions in buildings are considered. Thirdly, the implications of comfort theory and practice for attempts to conserve energy in non-domestic buildings are discussed. It is concluded that, because of developments which have occurred during this period, there now exist deeply entrenched but restricted notions about the nature of comfort itself, and about how, and by whom, acceptable environmental conditions should be created and maintained in such buildings. The existence of these notions facilitates expropriation from building occupants of their autonomy to control their own immediate environment and its transference, by means of automated and centralised environmental control systems, to technical specialists.

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