Integrating Occupant Values And Preferences With Building Systems In Conditioned Environments

In most countries, including the U.S., buildings are responsible for about 40% of energy consumption and over one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings consume a significant amount of energy during the operations phase. An acceptable indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is important for building occupants since poor conditions can impact their perceived health and productivity. People spend about 90% of their time indoors and sometimes take actions to improve their comfort such as adjusting the building systems (i.e., heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems), using personal devices, or adjusting their layers of clothing. Building systems do not adequately take the occupant preferences into account during the operations phase and the indoor environmental controls do not always accommodate those preferences. Occupant values (such as thermal comfort and visual comfort) can be better addressed in buildings through improved integration with building controls. Bridging the gap between occupant IEQ needs and the actual indoor conditions can be beneficial to improving building performance and occupant comfort. This study focused on the development of an approach to integrating occupant values and preferences with building systems to enhance comfort while reducing energy consumption. The objectives of this study were to establish occupant values and the relationships between the values, satisfaction, and behavior. A literature review was conducted to identify research gaps, the potential benefits of improved integration, and the applicability of agent-based modeling (ABM) for modeling occupant behavior and occupant values. Following this, an exploratory study using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires was conducted with professionals in the aerospace, shipbuilding, and automobile industry to assess how end-user values and preferences are accounted for and to identify lessons that can be learned for buildings. Empirical studies were completed using three case study buildings, two office spaces and one residential building in two different climates to understand the building operation and occupant values and behavior in those spaces. Surveys to establish occupant values, preferences, and satisfaction were also conducted in these buildings. Drawing on the findings in the industry case studies and empirical studies, an approach was proposed for improved integration between occupant values and building systems. An evaluation of the proposed approach by key industry professionals and experts demonstrated the need for improved communication between occupants and building operators, highlighted the importance of occupant education, and emphasized the energy savings that can be realized by eliminating some of the wasteful behaviors related to occupant discomfort with indoor conditions.Recommendations for an integrative occupant-sensitive building operation were proposed following the exploration of other industries and the empirical studies. This thesis contributes to an understanding of occupant behavior and preferences through continuous monitoring of operational residential and office buildings in different climates. Further emphasis is placed on the role of occupants in buildings and the interventions that can allow for improved integration to enhance IEQ and building energy efficiency.

This book comprises the proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering 2021. The contents of this volume focus on specialty conferences in construction, environmental, hydrotechnical, materials, structures, transportation engineering, etc. This volume will prove a valuable resource for those in academia and industry.

This book is the first to comprehensively cover research methods for building occupant behavior. As this is of growing importance for building design and for building performance optimization, the book aims to provide a sound scientific basis for experimental studies in this field. It introduces the reader to fundamental questions about the topic and unfolds the different fields related to occupant actions and comfort. This is followed by more general questions about developing an appropriate research method and experimental design. A comprehensive overview of sensors for monitoring environmental and also behavioral and action-related quantities helps to set up an experiment. In this context, different experimental environments and data collection methods (in-situ, laboratories, surveys) are introduced and discussed in terms of their suitability for the respective research question. Furthermore, data management and reporting is addressed. The book concludes with fundamental challenges in conducting occupant studies, with chapters on ground truth, ethics and privacy.

The fundamental function of buildings is to provide safe and healthy shelter. For the fortunate they also provide comfort and delight. In the twentieth century comfort became a 'product' produced by machines and run on cheap energy. In a world where fossil fuels are becoming ever scarcer and more expensive, and the climate more extreme, the challenge of designing comfortable buildings today requires a new approach. This timely book is the first in a trilogy from leaders in the field which will provide just that. It explains, in a clear and comprehensible manner, how we stay comfortable by using our bodies, minds, buildings and their systems to adapt to indoor and outdoor conditions which change with the weather and the climate. The book is in two sections. The first introduces the principles on which the theory of adaptive thermal comfort is based. The second explains how to use field studies to measure thermal comfort in practice and to analyze the data gathered. Architects have gradually passed responsibility for building performance to service engineers who are largely trained to see comfort as the ‘product’, designed using simplistic comfort models. The result has contributed to a shift to buildings that use ever more energy. A growing international consensus now calls for low-energy buildings. This means designers must first produce robust, passive structures that provide occupants with many opportunities to make changes to suit their environmental needs. Ventilation using free, natural energy should be preferred and mechanical conditioning only used when the climate demands it. This book outlines the theory of adaptive thermal comfort that is essential to understand and inform such building designs. This book should be required reading for all students, teachers and practitioners of architecture, building engineering and management – for all who have a role in producing, and occupying, twenty-first century adaptive, low-carbon, comfortable buildings.

A unique and revolutionary text which explains the principles behind the LT Method (2.1), a manual design tool developed in Cambridge by the BRE. The LT Method is a unique way of estimating the combined energy usage of lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation systems, to enable the designer to make comparisons between options at an early, strategic stage. In addition,Energy and Environment in Architecture the book deals with other environmental issues such as noise, thermal comfort and natural ventilation design. A variety of case studies provide a critique of real buildings and highlight good practice. These topics include thermal comfort, noise and natural ventilation.

The book explores advanced building-facade daylighting design practices based on diverse energy and human-factor performance metrics. It also defines effective daylighting by rethinking the simplified approach to glazing and facade systems to incorporate the local climate and the needs of building occupants as critical drivers of building performance, design solutions and technological innovation. It discusses state-of-the-art approaches in the context of simulation-based design workflows, innovative technologies and real project case studies, all targeting low and net-zero energy solutions that enhance occupant comfort. Readers benefit from a comprehensive approach that improves the feedback loop between design intent and performance in use. The book is intended for architects, lighting designers, facade engineers, manufacturers and building owners/operators, as well as advanced students.

Residential buildings have continuously improved in energy efficiency, partly as a consequence of the introduction of energy regulations in many countries. Although better thermal properties and systems efficiency have lowered energy consumption for space heating in recent decades, substantial differences in energy consumption in similar dwellings are still being observed. These differences in consumption are thought to be caused by differences in occupancy patterns, by quality of construction and by rebound effects.This research addresses the effect of energy performance regulations and occupant behaviour on energy consumption for space and water heating in dwellings built after the introduction of the energy performance regulations in the Netherlands. The results of this research show that improving the energy efficiency of buildings alone is not enough to decrease that energy consumption.

The indoor environment affects occupants' health and comfort. Poor environmental conditions and indoor contaminants are estimated to cost the U.S. economy tens of billions of dollars a year in exacerbation of illnesses like asthma, allergic symptoms, and subsequent lost productivity. Climate change has the potential to affect the indoor environment because conditions inside buildings are influenced by conditions outside them. Climate Change, the Indoor Environment, and Health addresses the impacts that climate change may have on the indoor environment and the resulting health effects. It finds that steps taken to mitigate climate change may cause or exacerbate harmful indoor environmental conditions. The book discusses the role the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should take in informing the public, health professionals, and those in the building industry about potential risks and what can be done to address them. The study also recommends that building codes account for climate change projections; that federal agencies join to develop or refine protocols and testing standards for evaluating emissions from materials, furnishings, and appliances used in buildings; and that building weatherization efforts include consideration of health effects. Climate Change, the Indoor Environment, and Health is written primarily for the EPA and other federal agencies, organizations, and researchers with interests in public health; the environment; building design, construction, and operation; and climate issues.

Today’s most pressing challenges require behaviour change at many levels, from the city to the individual. This book focuses on the collective influences that can be seen to shape change. Exploring the underlying dimensions of behaviour change in terms of consumption, media, social innovation and urban systems, the essays in this book are from many disciplines, including architecture, urban design, industrial design and engineering, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, waste management and public policy. Aimed especially at designers and architects, Motivating Change explores the diversity of current approaches to change, and the multiple ways in which behaviour can be understood as an enactment of values and beliefs, standards and habitual practices in daily life, and more broadly in the urban environment.