Effects of Building Occupancy on Indicators of Energy Efficiency

Aapo Huovila, Pekka Tuominen and Miimu Airaksinen
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Aapo Huovila: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Espoo, FI-02044 VTT, Finland
Pekka Tuominen: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Espoo, FI-02044 VTT, Finland
Miimu Airaksinen: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Espoo, FI-02044 VTT, Finland

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: The potential to reduce energy consumption in buildings is high. The design phase of the building is very important. In addition, it is vital to understand how to measure the energy efficiency in the building operation phase in order to encourage the right efficiency efforts. In understanding the building energy efficiency, it is important to comprehend the interplay of building occupancy, space efficiency, and energy efficiency. Recent studies found in the literature concerning energy efficiency in office buildings have concentrated heavily on the technical characteristics of the buildings or technical systems. The most commonly used engineering indicator for building energy efficiency is the specific energy consumption (SEC), commonly measured in kWh/m 2 per annum. While the SEC is a sound way to measure the technical properties of a building and to guide its design, it obviously omits the issues of building occupancy and space efficiency. This paper studies existing energy efficiency indicators and introduces a new indicator for building energy efficiency which takes into account both space and occupancy efficiency.

Keywords: building energy efficiency; indicators; performance (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: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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