Appraising indoor thermal perception of elderly in hot climates: An experimental investigation of free-running residential aged care homes in Colombo

Abstract

Rapid demographic transition with higher growth in ageing population demonstrate a major societal challenge in South Asia and Sri Lankans will age faster than other developing economies in the region. Climate shocks of people living in economically deprived countries will increase in future and elders are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of temperature extremes. The study experimentally investigated free-running residential care homes in hot climate of Colombo performing simultaneous personal monitoring and questionnaire surveys. Results explicitly prove overheated indoors with less air flow. Majority of elders confirmed thermally unacceptable interiors with warm thermal sensations and low air velocities of 0.1 to 0.29 m/s with predominant preference of more air movement proves inadequate passive airflow. A significant relationship between wind preference and presence of openings of their place of stay were evident. Staying away from a window or door instigated to practice a behavioural adaptation of moving towards transitional areas such as corridors, verandas, and outdoor spaces for more wind sensation. Since ageing is associated with physical inabilities and elders spend their life mostly in indoors, findings emphasize the importance of enhancing passive airflow and application of appropriate design strategies to ensure optimum air velocities and dispersion of airflow within interiors.