Living Worlds

Research · Buildings and grids · Oct 11, 2026

Thermal comfort in fifteen countries nobody had read

Not met13,451 votes, 174 buildings, 15 countries

The test at a glance

What it tests
Accuracy against reality: how hot or cold people said they felt.
Data
ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II v2.1.0; development on 80,815 rows from 14 countries.
Held out
15 other countries, sealed: 13,451 scored votes in 174 buildings.
Compared against
The standard comfort index (PMV); a learned regression; a learned classifier.
Bar
The 95% interval of the error difference below zero against all three, resampling buildings.
Result
0.818 against 0.905, 0.866 and 0.799: not met.

Living Worlds predicted how 13,451 people in 174 buildings across 15 countries it had never seen said they felt, hot or cold, closer than the standard comfort index used in building design (0.818 against 0.905 on the seven-point scale) and closer than a learned regression. A learned classifier came out slightly ahead (0.799), so the registered bar was not met. Registered before the data was read; scored once.

Protocol, result and scorer

Protocol Result

Next

Learning how each population uses the comfort scale from a few of its own votes, then homes and indoor air driven by the day plans of the people inside.

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