Understanding the thermal experience of elderly people in their residences: Study on thermal comfort and adaptive behaviors of senior citizens in Crete, Greece

As Greece's population ages, a number of challenges are presented in order to provide a healthy living environment for the elderly. Senior citizens have unique requirements for the indoor environment due to physiological changes occurring with age, which render them vulnerable to extremes of heat and cold. The aim of this work is to investigate the thermal experience of senior citizens in Crete, examining their thermal sensation, preference and adaptive responses to improve their thermal comfort in their residences. A questionnaire survey was conducted, involving 30 older adults living in the Heraklion district, including both the city of Heraklion and two villages. In addition, the ethical dilemmas emerging from thermally caring for people with dementia are discussed, through interviews given by the caretakers of two dementia sufferers living in Crete. The findings of this work indicate that the elderly consider more important to heat their homes in winter than to cool them in summer, as their expenditure for heating is larger than their expenditure for cooling. Furthermore, their thermal sensation (TSV), thermal comfort (TCV) and thermal satisfaction (TSAV) votes indicate that more elderly feel cold or cool in heating season than warm or hot in cooling season and as a result, there is greater dissatisfaction with the thermal environment in heating than in cooling season. In addition, the survey indicates a preference among the elderly for a warmer thermal environment in winter than a cooler in summer. Finally, the interviews given by the caretakers of two dementia sufferers display the ethical concerns emerging, in terms of who is in charge over the thermal conditions and the protection against extremes of heat and cold in summer and winter respectively. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.