Field studies suggest that the availability of adjustable thermostats, operable windows and other controls has a positive impact on comfort, the incidence of building related symptoms and productivity. This laboratory study was designed to further investigate how having or not having control over the thermal environment affects human responses to the indoor environment.The study was conducted in summer in a field laboratory that was kept at 28°C. A total of 23 subjects were exposed twice for about 2.5h. During the first session (A) subjects were able to fine-tune their local thermal environment at any given time with a personal desk fan with continuous, stepless adjustable control. During the second session (B) subjects still had the desk fans, but this time the fans were controlled from an adjacent room by the researchers who adjusted the individual air speed profiles so they were identical to those recorded during the first session. Thus, each subject was exposed to two customized conditions with identical exposure, only different from a psychological point of view.During the two sessions identical questionnaires and performance tests were used to evaluate subjects' comfort, SBS symptom incidence and performance. As expected, perceived control over the environment was significantly higher during session A, but there were no differences in perceived comfort and SBS symptom intensity. Both self-assessed and objectively measured performance was significantly better during session B. About two-thirds of the subjects indicated to prefer the situation as during the first session when they themselves controlled the air movement.@en

In this research the thermal comfort and thermal comfort parameters for children in primary school classrooms has been investigated. Actual thermal sensation and clothing insulation of children (age 9-11) in non-air-conditioned classrooms in three different schools in the Netherlands have been obtained. Results are available for a total of 24 days, covering winter, spring and summer conditions (year 2010). Questionnaires have been applied to obtain the actual thermal sensation and clothing insulation in the morning and afternoon of regular school days. In this period physical parameters (temperature, relative humidity, etc.) were recorded as well in order to derive the PMV. The results show that children adapt clothing during the year from mean values around 0.9 clo in winter to 0.3 clo in summer, with the largest changes occurring in the mid-season. There is a small difference in clothing adaptation between male and female children, with the females showing more adaptation. Comparison of the actual mean vote with the calculated PMV, based on the measured data, indicates a clear difference. The conclusion is that the PMV model does not predict the thermal sensation of these children accurately; it underestimates the mean thermal sensation up to 1.5 scale point. When the actual thermal sensation votes are compared to comfort predictions based on adaptive temperature limits it shows that children prefer lower temperatures than predicted by these methods.@en

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of indoor climate personal control actions on the temperature, CO2 concentration and other indoor environment quality (IEQ) conditions at the workstation of existing office buildings in the Netherlands under winter conditions. Indoor climate controls refer to, for example, thermostats, operable windows, etc. To map the effectiveness of the different kinds of controls, dynamic experiments were performed in offices. The experiments consisted of adjusting thermostatic valves on radiators/convectors, adjusting wall thermostats and opening windows. With advanced indoor climate logging measurement equipment response times and step responses were identified to conclude on how fast and how effective control actions are towards available indoor climate personal controls. The project outcomes give insight in what the control range is of distinct kinds of indoor climate controls. This knowledge can be used to improve the design of future office buildings, especially in cases where 'fast and adequate control' options are prescribed in output specifications.@en

Field and laboratory studies are based on some general assumptions on how indoor climate affects people. These assumptions can be depicted in conceptual models that describe manenvironment relations. The scientific literature was scanned for psycho-physiological models with feedback-loops to address occupant behaviour and personal control actions. More traditional models that do not take user (re)actions into account were ignored. The objective of this study was: i. to indentify important (historic) examples of psychophysiological models and ii. to find out what the key ingredients are for an ideal psychophysiological model that correctly addresses occupant behaviour. A total of 6 suitable models (graphical schemes) were identified. A key ingredient that we found is: separation of autonomic and behavioural regulation. Also distinction between stimulus perception and stimulus interpretation appeared to be important as is separation between available, exercised and perceived control. Other important aspects that were identified are expectation (memory) effects and (internal/external) coping. The outcomes of this literature study will be used to construct a new conceptual model. This new model will be used by the authors as fundament for a field study on Personal Control over Indoor Climate in Dutch office buildings.@en

A multilayer study was designed to investigate how having or not having control over one's indoor climate affects work performance in office buildings. The study consisted of 2 stages. The HOPE database (with results from a large study in 64 European office buildings) was reanalyzed on correlations between perceived control and self-assessed productivity. Next a field study (that included an occupant questionnaire) was conducted in 9 Dutch office buildings with different kinds of control options. The study showed that office workers that say to have a high amount of control over their indoor climate perceive to be significantly more productive than those that say to have a low amount of control. The quantitative effect of improving a no control situation towards a full control situation was estimated to be at least 6%. More research is needed in this relatively new area before final conclusions can be made.@en

The objective of this study was to find out how perceived control and access to control options like operable windows and thermostats affects comfort and health of European office workers. For this, the HOPE database was re-analyzed which contains data from indoor environmental quality surveys with around 6200 employees in 60 office buildings that are placed all over Europe. Statistical analyses were conducted to find out what the impact is of available controls on the perceived control of building occupants. Furthermore the effect of perceived control on comfort and health was determined. No significant relation was found between available controls and perceived control apart from available solar shading. Between perceived control and comfort or health, multiple significant correlations were found. Our findings suggest that designing future office buildings with the right mix of controls will lead to healthier and more comfortable building occupants.@en

A field study was conducted in nine modern office buildings in the Netherlands. The study focused on perceived control over indoor climate and its impact on satisfaction of building occupants, the incidence of building related (SBS) symptoms and self-assessed performance. The study involved a questionnaire amongst 236 office workers. Statistical analyses were conducted to investigate correlations between combined perceived control over temperature and ventilation on the one hand and satisfaction-, SBS- and productivity-indices on the other. Individual perceived control over indoor climate scores were perfectly normally distributed (using a 7 point scale coded from 1 = no control at all to 7 = full control) with as mean value 3.1 (SD 1.4). Respondents that perceived to have a high amount of control over their indoor climate were considerably more satisfied with their indoor environment. High control respondents also had significant less building related symptoms (BSI(5) 0.94 vs. 0.61). And productivity scores were significantly higher (6.3 %point) in comparison with the low control respondents.@en

The objective of this study was to find out how perceived control and access to control options like operable windows and thermostats affect the comfort and health of European office workers. For this, the Health Optimisation Protocol for Energy-efficient Buildings database was re-analysed. Statistical analyses were conducted to find out what the impact is of available controls on perceived control of building occupants. Furthermore, the effect of perceived control on comfort and health (building-related symptoms) of building occupants was determined. Overall, no significant correlations were found between available controls and perceived control. Solar shading, however, was an exception. On the other hand, between perceived control and comfort or health, multiple significant correlations were found. Occupants are more comfortable in buildings in which the amount of perceived control over temperature, ventilation and noise is high. Perceived control also has an impact on the incidence of building related symptoms, also if one looks at combinations of perceived control (e.g. control over temperature and ventilation).@en

A field study was conducted during the heating season in nine modern office buildings in the Netherlands. A first objective of the study was to investigate what kind of control Dutch office workers have over temperature in winter (available control), to map how often these controls are used (exercised control) and to identify how much control the office workers perceive to have over temperature in winter (perceived control). A second objective was to objectify the amount of control over temperature in winter with thermostat effectiveness measurements. The third objective was to investigate how available control and exercised control impact the level of control over indoor climate in winter as experienced by office workers (perceived control). The study consisted of (i) a systematic inventory of relevant building and HVAC system characteristics, (ii) a questionnaire among building occupants, and (iii) indoor climate measurements; concerning the latter, to evaluate the effectiveness of controls, dynamic experiments have been performed. These experiments consisted of manual adjustments of thermostats by the researchers. After these interventions, response times and step responses for room temperature were identified to quantify how effective controls were in changing room temperature. The outcomes of the study can be used to improve temperature control in existing and new office buildings.@en