Users’ impact on domestic energy consumption

Research Project, 2019 –

The overarching goal of this project is to improve the understanding of the impact of users on domestic energy use by conducting a pilot study in the HSB Living Lab. The aim is to develop a
methodology to study the impact of occupants’ physiological and behavioural responses on their home’s energy use. The objectives of the project are:

- To develop and test a questionnaire to collect information on occupants’ perceived behaviours and responses to the thermal environment (use of thermostats, windows, other
HVAC controls).
- To test non-intrusive methods (e.g. wearable sensors) of occupants’ physiological, psychological and behavioural responses to thermal stimuli.
- To analyse the impact of occupants on energy consumption through comparison of the occupant data (questionnaire responses and wearable sensor data) with the homes’ indoor climate and energy data collected in the HSB Living Lab.
- To explore the possible reasons of user behaviour to the thermal environment from the physiological and psychological aspects.

This pilot project will form the basis for the development of an extended collaborative research proposal which will involve the indoor environmental parameters influencing domestic energy use
(thermal, visual, acoustic, air quality) and a larger sample.
The pilot project will also be the starting point for future work that will be undertaken by a post-doc in Indoor Environment Quality, funded by the Area of Advance Energy (to be recruited). This work
will be included within the activities of IEA EBC - Annex 79 – “Occupant-Centric Building Design and Operation” and strengthen the collaboration with IVL as well as KTH, Prof. Ivo Martinac.