A systematic review on thermal environment and thermal comfort studies in Chinese residential buildings

Amid the backdrop of the energy crisis, thermal comfort is crucial to achieve energy savings. Residential buildings are characterized by a wide range of adaptive comfort opportunities. However, there has been a lack of systematic refinement and review of residential thermal comfort field studies in China to provide valuable recommendations for energy conservation. We systematically reviewed studies on thermal environment and thermal comfort in Chinese residential buildings published in peer-reviewed journals up to 2020. A total of 34 studies were deemed to have provided sufficient information on both the thermal environment and thermal comfort. We found that in winter, there were obvious differences between urban and rural dwellings in Severe Cold (SC) and Cold (C) zones, with regard to their indoor air temperature (urban: 19.8 ∼ 25.0 °C v.s. rural: 11.3 ∼ 17.8 °C) and neutral temperature (urban: 17.6 ∼ 25.1 °C v.s. rural: 11.9 ∼ 23.45 °C). While in summer, the indoor air temperature in urban dwellings were slightly lower than those in rural areas due to their prevalent use of air conditioner (urban: 26.1 ∼ 28.9 °C v.s. rural: 29.5 ∼ 34.9 °C). Indoor air temperature and neutral temperature varied considerably in different climate zones in winter. In SC zones, the indoor environment was overheated, which could lead to energy wastage and overheating discomfort for residents. Residents in Hot-Summer and Cold-Winter (HSCW) zone were the most tolerant to the variation of thermal environment (the median coefficient of MTS or TSV equation: SC: 0.18; C: 0.20; HSCW: 0.13; HSWW: 0.23).