ABSTRACT
The growing desire for comfort has led in recent years to a considerable worldwide increase in the number of buildings with air-conditioning. This trend can also be observed in Europe, and particularly in southern Europe. A similar development can be seen in the automobile industry, where a steadily growing number of cars now have air-conditioning. This is leading to a vast increase in the number of people who are used to living in a climatized environment, and such an environment is also desired and expected at work or at home. Moreover, the results of investigations show that the working capacity of human beings significantly decreases with room temperatures above 24°C.
