Is 24.9 °C Too Hot to Think? A Call to Raise Temperature Setpoints in Australian Offices

Abstract

The current +−0.5 PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) targets adopted by NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) is the practical range deemed acceptable for 90% acceptability for commercial buildings in Australia, however thermal comfort satisfaction scores measured in office buildings still show high percentages of dissatisfied occupants. This paper aims to demonstrate the potential of curbing energy consumption from commercial buildings in Australia by increasing summer temperature set-points. A 10-year NABERS dataset, along with objective and subjective thermal comfort and air quality data from NABERS-certified offices are investigated in this study. Furthermore, different sim..