Thermal comfort of occupants during the dry and rainy seasons in Abuja, Nigeria

The paper presents the results of a recent study on the thermal comfort of occupants in four low-income residential buildings, at two different locations, within the hot-humid climate of Abuja. A comfort survey questionnaire was administered to occupants of four casestudies to assess their perception of their thermal environment. Simultaneously, the indoor temperatures and relative humidity of the living room and bedroom spaces were monitored as well as outdoor parameters to evaluate the actual building performance. To support the comfort survey, a post-occupancy survey was carried out to evaluate an additional 86 buildings nearby in the case studies areas. The paper focuses on analysing the thermal conditions of respondents of the post-occupancy survey, the comfort survey and indoor monitoring findings from the case studies. The maximum daytime average temperature of the naturally ventilated buildings was only 2.0°C more than in the air-conditioned buildings. The maximum indoor air temperature in the living spaces during the dry season was 36.8°C(and 26.4% RH) and the minimum 28.4°C (and 66.6% RH),while during the rainy season these were respectively 35.9°C(and 43.7% RH) and the minimum 24.3°C (and 75.5% RH). The results suggest that there was significant thermal discomfort in the low income residential buildings.