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In light of recent research, it is evident that occupants are playing an increasingly important role in building energy performance. Around the world, a driving factor for how buildings are designed-and operated in some cases-is the local building codes. Yet, occupant-related aspects of building energy codes have traditionally been simple because: 1) occupants are often seen as a source of uncertainty that cannot be reconciled by current code methodologies and language, and 2) the codes have not kept up with the recent surge of interest and importance of occupants. This paper provides a review of 22 international building energy codes and standards by first comparing quantitative aspects and then analyzing rules and approaches mandated by the codes. The review of requirements for prescriptive and performance path requirements revealed a wide range of occupant-related values, approaches, and attitudes. For example, a key value such as occupant density varies by nearly a factor of three between countries' codes, which among other things underlines the need for development of locally tailored occupant behaviour models for future occupant-centric building performance standards and codes. Moreover, occupants are often referred to only implicitly; the level of optimism that occupants make energy-saving actions varies greatly; and, only a few codes address occupant feedback and system usability. Based on the findings, a set of initial recommendations for future building energy codes is made. The focus in this paper is offices, though the general recommendations are applicable to other building types.

The paper deals with an optimization of parameters, which influence the energy and investment cost as well as the thermal comfort. The parameters considered in this study are: the insulation thickness of the building envelope, the supply-water temperature and the heat exchange area of the radiators. A combination of the building energy simulation software EnergyPlus 1 and the generic optimization program GenOpt 1 has been used for this purpose. The paper presents the application of a one-objective optimization algorithm solving the problems with two objectives, because the optimization algorithm is one-objective and the problem has two objectives, which are minimal total costs and

Wood stoves are attractive for the space-heating (SH) of passive houses. Nevertheless, there are still questions about their integration. Firstly, the power oversizing of the current stoves and their long operating time may lead to unacceptable overheating. Secondly, it is also unclear how one stove can ensure the thermal comfort in the entire building. The paper investigates these aspects using detailed dynamic simulations (TRNSYS) applied to a detached house in Belgium. An 8 kW stove is assumed to be representative of the lowest available powers in the market. Results confirm that a large power modulation is important to prevent overheating. Opening the internal doors, a high building thermal mass and a heat emission dominated by radiation also reduce the overheating risk, but to a smaller extent. Besides, a single stove cannot enforce the thermal comfort during design weather conditions: * Corresponding author

The article presents review of possibilities and necessities for a practical application of lifetime commissioning in building facilities. The implementation of lifelong commissioning of buildings implies energy efficiency, ensures a rational use of energy and thereby decreases CO 2 emissions. Therefore, first the term "commissioning" is explained in the article. Commissioning necessities, which are induced by different operational faults, the new laws driven by idea for decreasing CO 2 emission, and benefits, are explained, too. Besides USA's and European laws for the energy performance of buildings, the Norwegian state of the art in this area is also presented. The difference in terms and methods for fault detection and diagnosis are elaborated in the article. Finally, examples of different commissioning tools are briefly introduced and compared. In order to make building sustainable and encourage energy savings, potential commissioning users are suggested.