Responses on indoor thermal environment in selected dwellings during the hot season in Ibadan, Nigeria

This paper reports the results of a thermal comfort study conducted recently on 12 subjects in the hot season in Ibadan, located in the hot humid climate. A statistical sample was carried out on these subjects casting their thermal comfort votes at half-hourly basis in four major areas of the city between February and April. Simultaneous records of temperature and humidity for indoors and outdoors were obtained. The data were analyzed for each of the subjects as well as the subjects combined. The optimum temperature obtained was 29.5ºC, thus indicating that the subjects can tolerate higher temperatures during the hot season, when cooling loads have the greatest impact on energy use, and the comfort temperature range was between 28ºC and 32ºC. This knowledge of preferred temperature would play a significant role in providing comfort at the least cost of energy through the development of a better design of building using a combination of passive cooling systems. KEY WORDS: dry-bulb air temperature, relative humidity, hot humid zone, thermal comfort. Global Jnl of Pure and Applied Sciences Vol.10(4) 2004: 627-63