In hot-humid climates air temperature is not the principal element to cause thermal discomfort, because it is always under the human body temperature, making possible convective thermal loss through the skin. This discomfort could be produced by solar radiation on human body skin and surrounding materials or the high values of relative humidity if compared to air temperature. In Maracaibo avg. min. DBT is 24.7°C, avg. DBT is 27.7°C, avg. max. DBT is 32.9°C, avg. variation is 8°C,avg. wind speed is 4.5 m/s, main direction is NE, avg. max. RH is 92%, avg. RH is 76%, avg. min. RH is 54% and avg. yearly precipitation is 490 mm. Except for yearly precipitation values which are lower compared to values in other hot humid climates. The above indicates that this region corresponds to Koppen's classification for a hot humid climate. In inter-tropical latitude and hot-humid climate cities, the adequate thermal conditioning of the surroundings directly benefits users' comfort and clearly diminishes thermal gains from solar radiation, to indoor areas of the buildings. That is why the final purpose of this paper is to determine in which proportion thermal flows from the surroundings are acting on the thermal energy balance of the human body, for the specific climate of Maracaibo.
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