Aspiration and Actions : the path towards energy efficiency behavior in residential buildings
Mattsson, Pimkamol LU ; Bernardo, Ricardo LU
; Johansson, Maria
LU
; Warell, Anders
LU
and Ekim Olsson, Zeynep
LU
(2022)
- Abstract
- User preferences and behaviors are pointed out as main causes of the gap between predicted and actual energy use in energy-efficient buildings. Particularly, users’ energy-related behaviors affect whether the maximum level of energy efficiency can be achieved. Despite the potentials of the buildings themselves to promote energy efficiency behaviors, users’ behavioral responses to the buildings’ energy-efficient design and solutions can be mediated by individual factors. Given the complex relations between energy-efficient buildings and user behaviors, an integrated perspective of professionals and building users would be desirable.
This project aimed to advance understanding of the design-building-user relation taking the perspectives... (More) - User preferences and behaviors are pointed out as main causes of the gap between predicted and actual energy use in energy-efficient buildings. Particularly, users’ energy-related behaviors affect whether the maximum level of energy efficiency can be achieved. Despite the potentials of the buildings themselves to promote energy efficiency behaviors, users’ behavioral responses to the buildings’ energy-efficient design and solutions can be mediated by individual factors. Given the complex relations between energy-efficient buildings and user behaviors, an integrated perspective of professionals and building users would be desirable.
This project aimed to advance understanding of the design-building-user relation taking the perspectives of professionals and users into account with a focus on how energy-efficient design and solutions interact with users and affect actual energy use in the buildings. The project was carried out as interviews with professionals involved in building design and development, a field study in four energy-efficient multifamily building projects, a survey on motivation of energy efficiency behaviors, and a demonstration of behavior change potential for energy saving.
The findings showed that energy-efficient design and solutions applied to multifamily buildings were perceived to contribute to the overall quality of buildings but had no significant role in affecting energy-related behaviors reported by the users. However, there were variations in energy used for household electricity and domestic hot water in the energy-efficient multifamily buildings which is in line with the previous studies carried out in 1,000 apartments. The large variations in the energy use were regardless the buildings’ goals for environmental sustainability and have reflected large potentials for energy savings by changing user behaviors towards low energy use. Such energy savings are equivalent to improving the whole building envelope above ground or installing photovoltaics in large scales, thereby pointing out a large potential of behavior change.
The users’ energy-related behaviors leading to both increased energy use and energy efficiency were mostly driven by motivational factors relating to comfort, convenience and pleasure. Further, the design of energy-efficient solutions and control devices of energy-related products/features were found to play an important role in affecting whether the buildings perform as expected, taking users’ motivations and behaviors into account. The findings point to the potential of products/features (such as low-flow fixture and temperature control for DHW, thermostat placement, safe and beautiful stairs), and easy-to-understand and easy-to-use control devices to foster energy efficiency behaviors together with individual motivations. To further reduce variations in energy use in energy-efficient multifamily buildings, default settings/options should be considered. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/025469ed-1315-4983-814a-e75dfddf7ff1
- author
- Mattsson, Pimkamol
LU
; Bernardo, Ricardo
LU
; Johansson, Maria
LU
; Warell, Anders
LU
and Ekim Olsson, Zeynep
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022
- type
- Book/Report
- publication status
- published
- subject
- publisher
- Energimyndigheten
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 025469ed-1315-4983-814a-e75dfddf7ff1
- date added to LUP
- 2024-01-13 22:58:56
- date last changed
- 2024-01-15 13:38:50
@techreport{025469ed-1315-4983-814a-e75dfddf7ff1,
abstract = {{User preferences and behaviors are pointed out as main causes of the gap between predicted and actual energy use in energy-efficient buildings. Particularly, users’ energy-related behaviors affect whether the maximum level of energy efficiency can be achieved. Despite the potentials of the buildings themselves to promote energy efficiency behaviors, users’ behavioral responses to the buildings’ energy-efficient design and solutions can be mediated by individual factors. Given the complex relations between energy-efficient buildings and user behaviors, an integrated perspective of professionals and building users would be desirable.<br/>This project aimed to advance understanding of the design-building-user relation taking the perspectives of professionals and users into account with a focus on how energy-efficient design and solutions interact with users and affect actual energy use in the buildings. The project was carried out as interviews with professionals involved in building design and development, a field study in four energy-efficient multifamily building projects, a survey on motivation of energy efficiency behaviors, and a demonstration of behavior change potential for energy saving.<br/>The findings showed that energy-efficient design and solutions applied to multifamily buildings were perceived to contribute to the overall quality of buildings but had no significant role in affecting energy-related behaviors reported by the users. However, there were variations in energy used for household electricity and domestic hot water in the energy-efficient multifamily buildings which is in line with the previous studies carried out in 1,000 apartments. The large variations in the energy use were regardless the buildings’ goals for environmental sustainability and have reflected large potentials for energy savings by changing user behaviors towards low energy use. Such energy savings are equivalent to improving the whole building envelope above ground or installing photovoltaics in large scales, thereby pointing out a large potential of behavior change.<br/>The users’ energy-related behaviors leading to both increased energy use and energy efficiency were mostly driven by motivational factors relating to comfort, convenience and pleasure. Further, the design of energy-efficient solutions and control devices of energy-related products/features were found to play an important role in affecting whether the buildings perform as expected, taking users’ motivations and behaviors into account. The findings point to the potential of products/features (such as low-flow fixture and temperature control for DHW, thermostat placement, safe and beautiful stairs), and easy-to-understand and easy-to-use control devices to foster energy efficiency behaviors together with individual motivations. To further reduce variations in energy use in energy-efficient multifamily buildings, default settings/options should be considered.}},
author = {{Mattsson, Pimkamol and Bernardo, Ricardo and Johansson, Maria and Warell, Anders and Ekim Olsson, Zeynep}},
institution = {{Energimyndigheten}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{Aspiration and Actions : the path towards energy efficiency behavior in residential buildings}},
year = {{2022}},
}