Occupant behaviour in buildings is a point of interest for building designers around the world. Functional buildings have a significant energy demand; therefore, improving the thermal and energy performance of such buildings requires knowledge about the variables that influence them. However, to increase the potential for improving thermal and energy performance of buildings, studies must also consider the occupant’s interactions with the built environment. The occupant behaviour influences the conditions of the internal environment through the occupation of indoor building spaces and through the interaction with building elements, such as air-conditioning, lighting, blinds and windows. Occupant Behaviour in Buildings: Advances and Challenges brings together reviews of these influential aspects, presenting updates on advances and questions that pose challenges in our current understanding of behavioural modeling and its application to building design. Special topics covered in the book include methods to survey occupant behavior, building design choices, occupant behaviour impact on a building's thermal and energy efficiency, and,finally, a simulation of occupants in a building. Key Features- Presents up-to-date information on occupant behaviour in buildings- Eight chapters, written by renowned researchers, provide readers with useful insights on the subject- Includes a case study of buildings in Brazil- Structured reader-friendly content- References for further reading This reference is an informative resource for students and professionals in architecture, civil engineering, building information design, and urban planning. Readers interested in social and behavioural sciences will also gain insights on research methods that are helpful in investigating human behavior in urban dwellings.

This book is the first to comprehensively cover research methods for building occupant behavior. As this is of growing importance for building design and for building performance optimization, the book aims to provide a sound scientific basis for experimental studies in this field. It introduces the reader to fundamental questions about the topic and unfolds the different fields related to occupant actions and comfort. This is followed by more general questions about developing an appropriate research method and experimental design. A comprehensive overview of sensors for monitoring environmental and also behavioral and action-related quantities helps to set up an experiment. In this context, different experimental environments and data collection methods (in-situ, laboratories, surveys) are introduced and discussed in terms of their suitability for the respective research question. Furthermore, data management and reporting is addressed. The book concludes with fundamental challenges in conducting occupant studies, with chapters on ground truth, ethics and privacy.

When used appropriately, building performance simulation has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of the built environment, to improve indoor quality and productivity, as well as to facilitate future innovation and technological progress in construction. Since publication of the first edition of Building Performance Simulation for Design and Operation, the discussion has shifted from a focus on software features to a new agenda, which centres on the effectiveness of building performance simulation in building life cycle processes. This new edition provides a unique and comprehensive overview of building performance simulation for the complete building life cycle from conception to demolition, and from a single building to district level. It contains new chapters on building information modelling, occupant behaviour modelling, urban physics modelling, urban building energy modelling and renewable energy systems modelling. This new edition keeps the same chapter structure throughout including learning objectives, chapter summaries and assignments. Moreover, the book: • Provides unique insights into the techniques of building performance modelling and simulation and their application to performance-based design and operation of buildings and the systems which service them. • Provides readers with the essential concepts of computational support of performance-based design and operation. • Provides examples of how to use building simulation techniques for practical design, management and operation, their limitations and future direction. It is primarily intended for building and systems designers and operators, and postgraduate architectural, environmental or mechanical engineering students.

Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB): Concepts, Frameworks and Roadmap for Project Analysis and Implementation provides readers with the elements they need to understand, combine and contextualize design decisions on Net Zero Energy Buildings. The book is based on learned lessons from NZEB design, construction, operation that are integrated to bring the most relevant topics, such as multidisciplinarity, climate sensitivity, comfort requirements, carbon footprints, construction quality and evidence-based design. Chapters introduce the context of high performance buildings, present overviews of NZEB, cover the performance thresholds for efficient buildings, cover materials, micro-grid and smart grids, construction quality, performance monitoring, post occupancy evaluation, and more. Offers a roadmap for engaging in energy efficiency in high performance buildings projects Combines solid grounding in core concepts, such as energy efficiency, with a wider context that includes the technical, socio-cultural and environmental dimensions Covers key areas for decision-making Provides a logical framework to analyze projects in the context of environmental change Presents worldwide examples and cases for different climates and societies

Residential buildings have continuously improved in energy efficiency, partly as a consequence of the introduction of energy regulations in many countries. Although better thermal properties and systems efficiency have lowered energy consumption for space heating in recent decades, substantial differences in energy consumption in similar dwellings are still being observed. These differences in consumption are thought to be caused by differences in occupancy patterns, by quality of construction and by rebound effects.This research addresses the effect of energy performance regulations and occupant behaviour on energy consumption for space and water heating in dwellings built after the introduction of the energy performance regulations in the Netherlands. The results of this research show that improving the energy efficiency of buildings alone is not enough to decrease that energy consumption.

This book highlights the importance of human behaviour in the building design process, with a focus on the construction of zero-energy buildings. It reports on and discusses the strategies the authors have adopted to develop behavioural models, and explains how to integrate them into building design. The analyses and findings presented in the book are supported by novel experimental data derived from building monitoring projects carried out by the authors’ research group. Further, the book suggests key methodologies and modelling approaches. The authors subsequently address occupants’ behaviour in zero-energy buildings from an energy perspective. They investigate many different aspects of the interactions between users and buildings devices, from assessing the triggering factors of occupants’ behaviours, to discussing modelling and simulation approaches. Methods for acquiring and analysing experimental data are presented, as well as a discussion on objective and subjective factors that trigger occupants’ behaviour. Other content includes: experimental investigations from real case studies to assess occupants’ interaction with building devices; an assessment of the driving factors that trigger human actions to identify the key parameters in the behavioural models; and critical suggestions on monitoring and modelling approaches to optimise data acquisition and modelling methods. The guidelines presented here will allow designers and researchers to improve the accuracy of their simulations of buildings energy performance, and support both building design and management processes. It will be of particular use to researchers involved in the development of behavioural models, as it presents experimental data and a comprehensive overview of behavioural modelling. The book will also be of interest to students who are studying the behavioural component of integrated building design.

Approx.527 pages Approx.527 pages