COOLER Cities #03: Thermal Comfort Measurements
- Gregers Reimann
- Jul 13
- 2 min read
IEN undertook a series of outdoor thermal comfort measurements in the tropical city of Melaka. The mean radiant temperature plays a significant role in the thermal comfort. Shade from a tree immediately drops the perceived temperature by 10 degrees Celsius. And increased air-flow from outdoor ceiling fans also significantly improve the thermal comfort.
The instrumentation used was the small and compact Comfort Cube (5 x 5 cm), which packs the following sensors:
6 thermographic cameras (heat radiation)
6 short-wave cameras (heat from solar radiation / daylight)
Air temperature (degrees Celsius)
Relative humidity (%)
Air velocity (m/s)
CO2 (ppm)
Volatile Organic Compounds, VOC (index)
To complement the thermal comfort measurements, a thermographic camera was used to show the temperature of the city surfaces. The urban heat island effect was evident from one of the north-south running streets, where a clear temperature gradient of the asphalt was observed from one side of the street to the other. The hottest asphalt being the one most recently exposed to direct sun. However, the entire street, no longer exposed to direct sun, was radiating heat. If only the street had been shaded by trees, the thermal environment would have been significantly cooler.
The results were presented at the 2025 Vibrant Melaka conference (10-12 July) for which Gregers (IEN) gave a talk entitled "Economic Benefits of Cooler Cities: Solutions for the Tropics". The talk was well received and the 37 slides can be view & downloaded here:
By a happy coincidence, some of the delegates were doing a heat impact study for the nearby heat-stressed Kampung Morten, which I had photographed the day before and included in the slides, inserted below for each reference:
Photo gallery:
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