Predicted vs. actual energy performance of non-domestic buildings: Using post-occupancy evaluation data to reduce the performance gap

Anna Carolina Menezes, Andrew Cripps, Dino Bouchlaghem and Richard Buswell

Applied Energy, 2012, vol. 97, issue C, 355-364

Abstract: With the increasing demand for more energy efficient buildings, the construction industry is faced with the challenge to ensure that the energy performance predicted during the design stage is achieved once a building is in use. There is, however, significant evidence to suggest that buildings are not performing as well as expected and initiatives such as PROBE and CarbonBuzz aim to illustrate the extent of this so called ‘performance gap’. This paper discusses the underlying causes of discrepancies between energy modelling predictions and in-use performance of occupied buildings (after the twelve month liability period). Many of the causal factors relate to the use of unrealistic input parameters regarding occupancy behaviour and facilities management in building energy models. In turn, this is associated with the lack of feedback to designers once a building has been constructed and occupied.

Keywords: Building energy modelling; Energy benchmarks; Energy performance; Performance gap; Post-occupancy evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (108)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261911007811
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:97:y:2012:i:c:p:355-364

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.11.075

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().