The Effect of Thermal Inertia on Office Workers Subjective and Physiological Responses; and Performance Under Summer Conditions.

The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of different temperature ramps on office workers’ psychological, physiological and behavioral reactions. This paper presents the analysis of the psychological and physiological reactions. The hypothesis is that a steeper ramp leads to more pronounced and earlier reactions. An experimental study in an outdoor facing climate chamber with two fully equipped office spaces was conducted. The results support the hypothesis stated at the beginning, but further in depth analyses especially together with the behavioral reactions need to be done before drawing conclusions for the applicability of light-weight structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]