USDOE Human Subjects Research Database, Fiscal Year 2003

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Public Information Contact:

Mr. George Douglas
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
1617 Cole Blvd.
Golden, CO 80401

Phone: (303) 275-4096
Fax:
E-mail: george_douglas@nrel.gov

Institutional Review Board (IRB):

Human Subject Projects:

Number of Human Subjects projects reported: 1

NREL-01-Thermal Comfort

"Local Thermal Comfort Human Subject Study "

Project Identifier: NREL-01-Thermal Comfort

"Local Thermal Comfort Human Subject Study"

Principal Investigator: Dr. Edward Arens, University of California Berkeley

Project started in: 2001

Project Funding Information:

Funding for Human Subjects Research:

DOE: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE)

$213,292.00 for: Fiscal Year 2003

Information on Use of Human Subjects:

This project does not involve the use of multiple protocols/subprojects.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Review:
Type of Review: Full Board
Approving Institution: University of California Berkeley
Most recent approval: 02/15/02
IRB approval number: 2001-4-67
Explanation of IRB approval:
The IRB approval was in FY2002. The subject testing was also conducted in FY2002.

Number of human subjects who participated in this project/protocol/subproject in the last reporting period: 28
Reporting period for number of human subjects: Fiscal Year 2003

Type(s) of Human Subjects Involvement:

Other types of human subjects involvement. Explanation:

Collection of human body temperatures and survey of sensation/comfort.

(a. Objectives, b. Methodology, c. Ionizing Radiation, Radioactive Substances, or Chemical Substances to which human subjects are exposed, d. Involvement of Human Subjects [d.1. procedures used, d.2. risks if any])

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study is to evaluate human thermal comfort in a transient, non-uniform environment.

METHODOLOGY

Collect skin and core temperature data as well as the subject’s local and global sensation/comfort while the environmental conditions around the subject are modified. Develop a correlation to predict local and global thermal comfort as a function of local skin and core temperatures and their rates of change.

IONIZING RADIATION, RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES, OR CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES

None.

INVOLVEMENT OF AND RISKS TO HUMAN SUBJECTS

There are no physiological, psychological, or social risks greater than those encountered in daily life associated with this research. This is a comfort experiment, not a heat stress experiment. The highest skin temperature a subject will be exposed to in this experiment is 40°C and the lowest skin temperature will be 10°C. At any time during the experiment, the subjects will be able to discontinue heating or cooling if they desire. There have been no known injuries associated with the use of skin temperature sensors. Each sensor is smaller than a dime and attached to the skin with a small amount of surgical tape. The sensors are cleaned with alcohol between each test. It is possible that some subjects may be allergic to the surgical tape used to secure the sensors to their skin. If this proves to be a problem for any subject, they will not be required to wear the sensors during the experiment.

CONFIDENTIALITY

The subjects will only be identified by name on the paper copies of the background survey. The background surveys will be kept locked in an office on campus. Each background survey will receive a numerical code that will be used to identify the subject throughout the experiment and in all analyses. No identifying data will ever be released to anyone nor will any identifying data appear in any publication describing this research. The list of names and the associated codes will be kept in a locked file separate from the coded surveys.