Quantifying the Impact of Human Actions on the Energy Performance of a Residential Building

Abstract

Buildings consume a significant amount of energy and are often the target of large-scale energy saving initiatives and policies. In recent years, there has been a growing interest to evaluate how occupants and facility managers operate buildings, in an effort to find fast and low-cost energy saving solutions. However, human-focused building energy research remains scarce in the literature compared to technology-focused research. Current studies are also mostly limited by simplistic analysis approaches, overlooking potential uncertainty and combined effects of operation parameters. Furthermore, the case studies and application are mostly originating from western countries with results that are not necessarily applicable to buildings subjected to extreme weather conditions such as the ones encountered in the Arabian Gulf countries. The aim of this research is to propose and apply a framework to (1) quantify the influence of actions taken by people (e.g., occupants or facility managers) on the energy use of a residential building, (2) study potential combined or synergetic effects of parameters, (3) evaluate how the building responds to uncertainty in human actions, and (4) use the findings to recommend human-focused energy conservation solutions. A three-phase methodology was developed including data collection, development, and validation of a Building Performance Simulation (BPS) model, and a comprehensive parametric variation. The methodology was then applied on a prototype single-family villa in Kuwait. Results indicate that changing the setpoint temperature setting of the Air Conditioning (AC) system is the most influential parameters studied, which was expected given the extremely hot climate of Kuwait. A 2 °C change in this parameter can lead to variations in energy use exceeding 10% from the base case levels. More importantly, building energy consumption can change between +30% and -20% from current levels if occupants adopt extreme high-energy or low-energy use patterns, respectively. The findings are significant as they quantify, on the hand, the risk from inefficient occupant behavior, and on the other, the opportunity to achieve important energy savings from responsible energy conservation practices.

Date of Award	May 2019
Original language	American English