24-h evaporative and sensible heat losses in relation to ambient humidity at 24 degrees C in clothed human subjects.

The effect of ambient humidity on the energy expenditure of clothed subjects was investigated. Fifty-six healthy men and women, weighing about 65 kg, spent 24 h in a large human calorimeter at 24 degrees C and performed either of two fixed activity programmes. The ambient humidity varied between experiments from 3 to 11 g m-3. The sensible heat output did not vary significantly with humidity but the evaporative heat loss decreased by about 1.5 W for each g m-3 increase in humidity.