Dataset Information

Impact of shade on outdoor thermal comfort-a seasonal field study in Tempe, Arizona.

ABSTRACT: Shade plays an important role in designing pedestrian-friendly outdoor spaces in hot desert cities. This study investigates the impact of photovoltaic canopy shade and tree shade on thermal comfort through meteorological observations and field surveys at a pedestrian mall on Arizona State University's Tempe campus. During the course of 1 year, on selected clear calm days representative of each season, we conducted hourly meteorological transects from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and surveyed 1284 people about their thermal perception, comfort, and preferences. Shade lowered thermal sensation votes by approximately 1 point on a semantic differential 9-point scale, increasing thermal comfort in all seasons except winter. Shade type (tree or solar canopy) did not significantly impact perceived comfort, suggesting that artificial and natural shades are equally efficient in hot dry climates. Globe temperature explained 51 % of the variance in thermal sensation votes and was the only statistically significant meteorological predictor. Important non-meteorological factors included adaptation, thermal comfort vote, thermal preference, gender, season, and time of day. A regression of subjective thermal sensation on physiological equivalent temperature yielded a neutral temperature of 28.6 °C. The acceptable comfort range was 19.1 °C-38.1 °C with a preferred temperature of 20.8 °C. Respondents exposed to above neutral temperature felt more comfortable if they had been in air-conditioning 5 min prior to the survey, indicating a lagged response to outdoor conditions. Our study highlights the importance of active solar access management in hot urban areas to reduce thermal stress.

SUBMITTER: Middel A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5127889 | biostudies-other | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Impact of shade on outdoor thermal comfort-a seasonal field study in Tempe, Arizona.

Middel Ariane A Selover Nancy N Hagen Björn B Chhetri Nalini N

International journal of biometeorology 20160518 12

Shade plays an important role in designing pedestrian-friendly outdoor spaces in hot desert cities. This study investigates the impact of photovoltaic canopy shade and tree shade on thermal comfort through meteorological observations and field surveys at a pedestrian mall on Arizona State University's Tempe campus. During the course of 1 year, on selected clear calm days representative of each season, we conducted hourly meteorological transects from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and surveyed 1284 peop ...[more]

PMID: 27192997

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Project description:Data from post-occupancy studies in real constructions have been instrumental in the development of mainstream thermal comfort standards for the built environment. However, there is growing evidence of the need to advance these standards, through more robust and comprehensive fieldwork records from a broader spectrum of geographies, climates, architectural characteristics and occupancies. It has been shown that the standards have limited suitability in environments such as educational buildings, as they were developed based mainly on adult subjects working in offices. The lack of guidance in data collection methodologies is also thought to require particular attention, as the accuracy of the assessment models relies significantly on the quality of the information gathered. This manuscript proposes a method to systematically acquire an extensive range of data specifically from school classrooms. The method seeks to improve current techniques as follows: •The post-occupancy surveys suggested in mainstream standards focus mainly on the collection of physical and environmental parameters related to adult subjects. Classroom-comfort-data can be used to collect information not only on physical and environmental parameters but also on physiological and psychological aspects. It also includes tools tailored for occupants from different ages (7 years old and above).•The assessment models suggested in mainstream standards employ between 2-5 parameters to predict thermal comfort ranges. The Classroom-comfort-data method is designed to gather up to 49 different thermal comfort parameters, which allow a more comprehensive evaluation of perception and preference, as well as adaptive strategies, social context, and cognitive and emotional appraisals.•The existing surveys in the standards were formulated primarily for office environments in subtropical and temperate climates. The Classroom-comfort-data method can be adapted to fieldwork within different conditions of climate, building design, occupancy levels, and cultural contexts.

Project description:BackgroundSemi-field experiments with human landing catch (HLC) measure as the outcome are an important step in the development of novel vector control interventions against outdoor transmission of malaria since they provide good estimates of personal protection. However, it is often infeasible to determine whether the reduction in HLC counts is due to mosquito mortality or repellency, especially considering that spatial repellents based on volatile pyrethroids might induce both. Due to the vastly different impact of repellency and mortality on transmission, the community-level impact of spatial repellents can not be estimated from such semi-field experiments.MethodsWe present a new stochastic model that is able to estimate for any product inhibiting outdoor biting, its repelling effect versus its killing and disarming (preventing host-seeking until the next night) effects, based only on time-stratified HLC data from controlled semi-field experiments. For parameter inference, a Bayesian hierarchical model is used to account for nightly variation of semi-field experimental conditions. We estimate the impact of the products on the vectorial capacity of the given Anopheles species using an existing mathematical model. With this methodology, we analysed data from recent semi-field studies in Kenya and Tanzania on the impact of transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons, the odour-baited Suna trap and their combination (push-pull system) on HLC of Anopheles arabiensis in the peridomestic area.ResultsComplementing previous analyses of personal protection, we found that the transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons act mainly by killing or disarming mosquitoes. Depending on the actual ratio of disarming versus killing, the vectorial capacity of An. arabiensis is reduced by 41 to 96% at 70% coverage with the transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons and by 38 to 82% at the same coverage with the push-pull system, under the assumption of a similar impact on biting indoors compared to outdoors.ConclusionsThe results of this analysis of semi-field data suggest that transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons are a promising tool against malaria transmission by An. arabiensis in the peridomestic area, since they provide both personal and community protection. Our modelling framework can estimate the community-level impact of any tool intervening during the mosquito host-seeking state using data from only semi-field experiments with time-stratified HLC.

Dataset Information

Impact of shade on outdoor thermal comfort-a seasonal field study in Tempe, Arizona.

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Impact of shade on outdoor thermal comfort-a seasonal field study in Tempe, Arizona.

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