Energy-Related Occupant Behaviour and Its Implications in Energy Use: A Chronological Review

Vivian W. Y. Tam, Laura Almeida and Khoa Le
Additional contact information
Vivian W. Y. Tam: School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Laura Almeida: School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Khoa Le: School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: It is essential to understand how significantly occupants’ actions impact the performance of a building, as a whole, in terms of energy use. Consequently, this paper reviews the available resources on energy-related occupant behaviour and its implications in energy use in a building. A chronological review on energy-related occupant behaviour and its implications in energy use has been conducted. As a main existing gap, it was identified by researchers the difference between real energy performance and the one that is predicted during the design stage of a building. The energy predicted during the design stage of a building may be over twice the energy used in the operation stage. Buildings are one of the most energy intensive features in a country. They are affected by the interaction and correlation of several different variables, such as: its physical characteristics, technical systems, equipment, occupants, etc. Therefore, buildings are considered to be complex systems that require a careful and intensive analysis. Moreover, one of the key variables impacting real building energy use is occupant behaviour. The way occupants behave and their motivations are some of the main aspects that need to be considered in a building life-cycle.

Keywords: occupant behaviour; energy-related behaviour; energy efficiency; energy use; driving forces; green building (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2635/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2635/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2635-:d:160207

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().