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Seasonal variation of thermal comfort demands directly affects the energy needs for heating or cooling purpose. In previous studies, the differences of neutral temperatures between summer and winter were revealed, but the studies on the difference of human thermal adaption in transitional seasons are insufficient. To clarify this, this paper presents a year-long survey which was carried out in 505 residential buildings in six cities located in the Hot Summer and Cold Winter (HSCW) zone of China involving 11,524 subjects. Results show a significant difference of adaptive responses in different seasons, and a lag of behavioral responses behind climate change in transitional seasons is observed. Occupants not only adjust clothing insulation according to air temperature in different seasons, but also actively control indoor air movement, including closing/opening windows and using fans. The seasonal, monthly and daily neutral temperatures are studied, implying that occupants’ thermal experience has significant effect on their thermal comfort by behavioral, physiological and psychological paths. According to the comparative study, the running mean air temperature method and aPMV model are recommended in free-running space. The findings provide scientific evidence to the concept that dynamic thermal comfort temperature range should be considered in evaluation of indoor thermal environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building envelopes are exposed to the hot-humid climate with high humidity in hot summer and cold winter zone (HSCW) of China. The moisture transfer may severely influence the conduction loads through exterior walls. In this paper, a coupled heat and moisture transfer model is developed and validated to investigate the thermal performance of exterior walls. The conduction loads through a typical exterior wall are used to evaluate the effect of moisture transfer on the thermal performance of exterior walls in HSCW zone of China. The results show that the peak cooling and heating loads are overestimated by 2.1–3.9% and 4.2–10.1%, respectively, when ignoring moisture transfer. In cooling season, the sum of the latent load accounts for 14.3–52.2% of the sum of the total load and the yearly latent load accounts for 4.9–6.1% of the yearly total load when considering moisture transfer. The total cooling, heating and the yearly load are underestimated by 9.9–34.4%, 1.7–4.0%, and 5.2–6.8%, respectively, when ignoring moisture transfer. The results indicate that ignoring moisture transfer causes significant discrepancy in predicting the conduction loads. A detailed model considering moisture transfer in building envelope is essential to accurately evaluate the building energy performance in HSCW zone of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]