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Richard de Dear

Title: Associate Professor
Name: Richard de Dear
Position: Associate Professor; Director of Research Training
Location: Room 586, 148 City Road, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006
Phone: +61 2 9351 5603
Email:

Profile

Restricting climate change to the “manageable range” will require
significant energy conservation in the building sector. In developed countries buildings usually account for at least 40% of total energy consumption, and between 30 and 60% of this energy is used in the provision of indoor climate control for occupant comfort (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning). In New South Wales over 90% of office buildings and about 50% of homes now have air-conditioning. It seems clear that a transition towards an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy is going to impact comfort levels within built environments; all that remains to be answered is “how much?”

Over the last 28 years, Associate Professor Richard de Dear has built a career in the area of human thermal comfort. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and a dozen books and monographs on the subject. Within that body of research it is his work on the “adaptive model of thermal comfort” that has had the greatest impact, receiving over a thousand citations within the indoor environmental literature (and earning him an H Index of 19). De Dear’s adaptive model underpins the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers’ thermal comfort standard, and several other national and international standards/codes are now evolving in similar directions, including most recently, the Netherlands and CEN. Countless “green buildings” around the world have been engineered on the basis of the adaptive comfort model, including the landmark San Francisco Federal Building which opened late 2007. Every year he receives several keynote lecture and visiting professor invitations to conferences or universities, especially across the Asia-Pacific region where his adaptive comfort model has had its greatest uptake.

Education

PhD 1986 (Applied Climatology), University of Queensland, Australia
BA 1981 (1st Class Honours), University of Queensland, Australia

Employment History

  • Associate Professor in Architectural Science, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney (January 2009 till present)
  • Environmental and Life Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney (July 1991 till present)
  • Adjunct Professor to the School of Architecture and Building, Deakin University, Geelong (2001-2004).
  • National University of Singapore (1987 - 1991). Lecturer in climatology and environmental management
  • Technical University of Denmark, Laboratory of Heating and Air Conditioning (1985 -1987). Research Associate in Professor P.O. Fanger’s indoor environment group.

Honours and Scholarships

  • 2002 Best Paper Award at the Australian and New Zealand Architectural Science Association annual conference, Geelong.
  • 1999 Technical Paper Award at the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Summer Meeting, Chicago.
  • Environmental Design and Research Association (EDRA) Research Award for “Designing for Comfort”, Orlando Fla.
  • 1998 Crosby Field Award from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (with Gail Brager, UC Berkeley). Presented to the author/s of the best paper published by ASHRAE in any of its journals (San Francisco).
  • 1998 Symposium Paper Award by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (San Francisco, Cal.)
  • 1993 Ralph Nevins Physiology and Human Environment Award. Presented by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers for "significant accomplishment in the general area of man's response to the environment."

Memberships

  • Member of the International Society of Indoor Air Quality (ISIAQ)
  • Member of the International Society of Biometeorology (ISB).
  • Member of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Consultancy and Professional Service

Consulting, expert witness and training services in the areas of thermal comfort, heat/cold stress, air quality and building energy conservation have been provided to a variety of companies and organisations, including:

  • Walt Disney Imagineering (USA)
  • Benfield Pty Ltd. (Aust)
  • Lincolne Scott Pty Ltd (Aust)
  • Australian Greenhouse Office (Aust)
  • Air International Pty Ltd. (Aust)
  • Australian Government Solicitor
  • Holmes Air Sciences Pty Ltd. (Aust)
  • Hungry Jacks Pty Ltd. (Aust)
  • Built Environment Unit, Dept Administrative Services (Qld)
  • American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc.(USA)

Richard de Dear is an editor or member of editorial boards on the following international research journals:

  • Building Research & Information (Taylor and Francis, UK)
  • Building and Environment (Elsevier, USA)
  • Architectural Science Review (Sydney, Australia)
  • Climate Research (Inter-Research: Germany)
  • International Journal of Biometeorology (Springer: USA).
  • Journal of the Human-Environment System (SHES: Japan).

Richard de Dear is regularly invited to referee research papers submitted to the following peer-reviewed journals:
Architectural Science Review, International Journal of Climatology, International Journal of Biometeorology, Climate Research, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, Measurement, IEEE, Journal of Thermal Biology, Transactions of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Energy and Buildings, Building and Environment, Indoor Air: International Journal of Indoor Air Quality and Climate, Australian Meteorological Magazine, European Journal of Applied Physiology, Meteorologische Zeitschrift