Assessment of the Impact of Occupants’ Behavior and Climate Change on Heating and Cooling Energy Needs of Buildings

Gianmarco Fajilla, Marilena De Simone, Luisa F. Cabeza and Luís Bragança
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Gianmarco Fajilla: Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Marilena De Simone: Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Luisa F. Cabeza: GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Luís Bragança: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-18

Abstract: Energy performance of buildings is a worldwide increasing investigated field, due to ever more stringent energy standards aimed at reducing the buildings’ impact on the environment. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact that occupant behavior and climate change have on the heating and cooling needs of residential buildings. With this aim, data of a questionnaire survey delivered in Southern Italy were used to obtain daily use profiles of natural ventilation, heating, and cooling, both in winter and in summer. Three climatic scenarios were investigated: The current scenario (2020), and two future scenarios (2050 and 2080). The CCWorldWeatherGen tool was used to create the weather files of future climate scenarios, and DesignBuilder was applied to conduct dynamic energy simulations. Firstly, the results obtained for 2020 demonstrated how the occupants’ preferences related to the use of natural ventilation, heating, and cooling systems (daily schedules and temperature setpoints) impact on energy needs. Heating energy needs appeared more affected by the heating schedules, while cooling energy needs were mostly influenced by both natural ventilation and usage schedules. Secondly, due to the temperature rise, substantial decrements of the energy needs for heating and increments of cooling energy needs were observed in all the future scenarios where in addition, the impact of occupant behavior appeared amplified.

Keywords: occupant behavior; climate changes; energy needs; ventilation; residential buildings; DesignBuilder (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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