engleski

Field research on occupants behavior related to energy consumption in Mediterranean area

This paper provides a field research in spring period at the typical educational-research building in order to collect the information about human behavior regarding energy consumption. The data were collected by measuring the air temperature and air quality in the office area, as well as the survey questionnaire. The results showed that all measured parameters are within the limits prescribed by standards, but there were temperature oscillations between rooms, which reveal the influence of the building user as a factor of great importance. Furthermore, the questionnaire results showed that people in the building are mostly satisfied with the prevailing room conditions and that the parame-ters which influence human thermal sensation are lighting level, air temperature and air quality. However, the future of occupants’ behavior prediction lays in a prediction of human thermal sensation with the use of wearable sensory devic-es that can address individual needs of building users. Keywords:energy consumption ; thermal comfort ; occupants’ behavior ; energy efficiency ; buildings1IntroductionThe development of a feasible and sustainable approach towards improving the building stock’s energy perfor-mance is a prerequisite with respect to the ambitious European energy and environment goals for 2030. The same ap-plies to the need to improve the prevailing indoor environmental quality conditions, both in new and existing buildings, in parallel with the improvement of their energy efficiency. This is clearly expressed in the European and national regu-latory frameworks, in the form of International Standards EN ISO 7730:2005, EN ISO 15251:2006. Still, thermal comfort is a highly personal phenomenon, as it depends on one’s own perception of thermal com-fort[1 –7], the occupant developshis or her own behavior. In the most cases, that behavior reflects on energy system regulationof their environment, i.e. office they work in, andultimately, the whole building. In this way, the gap be-tweenpredicted (simulated) and actual energy consumptionis formed. This problemincreasesthe need for an effective quantification of occupant behavior, i.e.the detection of complex physical mechanisms that link thermal comfort to occupantbehaviorregarding energy consumptionin a building[8, 9].The understanding of occupant’s behavior andof the energy efficiency potential that can be utilized, on a com-munity level is only possible through interdisciplinary research, integrating technical and social sciences [10, 11], by conducting two types of measurements, objective and subjective. Objective measurement consists of measurement of external and internal ambient conditions (air temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration). Subjective assessment is used for estimation of individual user responses to the thermal environment. Moreover, it consists of personal self-assessment, i.e. respondents reports about their own comfort and behavior, mostly through surveys [8]. Therefore, the main objective of this study was togather and to analyze all the information about energy con-sumption and energy efficiency in the building, to monitor to what extent the occupants’ behavior influences the energy performance and, if this is not the case, to determine the dominant factors which are affecting the user and the building management system’s interaction.

energy consumption ; thermal comfort ; occupants’ behavior ; energy efficiency ; buildings

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