A systematic review of occupant behavior in building energy policy

Abstract

Buildings play a dominant role in global efforts towards energy consumption reduction, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation, as well as global clean energy transition. Building Energy Policies (BEP) improved globally and quickly with a growing number of building codes implemented over the past decade. Occupant Behavior (OB) has significant impacts on building energy performance and occupant comfort, despite often being not well understood and oversimplified in BEPs. This paper highlighted the research needs of properly integrating OB in building energy polices by presenting a literature review to identify the key questions and challenges related to building technical standards and regulations, building information policies, building energy incentives, and policy evaluations and way forward. Challenges and opportunities of OB in BEP are also discussed with respect to technical innovation and digitalization, as well as concerns related to energy efficiency and fairness. There has been growing interests, research and applications in this field, but significant challenges and opportunities still lie ahead. Keywords: Occupant behavior; building energy policy; climate change policy; building energy efficiency;HVAC system 1. Introduction Occupant behavior in building energy policyBuildings play a dominant role in global efforts towards energy consumption reduction, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation, as well as global clean energy transition. Facing global climate change and national energy security challenges, international agreements, initiatives, and building sector energy policies are providing 2 promising alternatives to the status quo. In recent years, Building Energy Policies (BEP) improved globally and quickly with a growing number of building codes implemented over the past decade. In contrast, global final energy consumption in buildings increased by more than 5% between 2010 and 2017, as energy efficiency gains were outpaced by continued growth in the building sector size and resulting energy service demands [1]. Among various factors, Occupant Behavior (OB) plays an essential role in building energy demand increases and activity growth. In addition, OB has significant impacts on building energy performance and occupant comfort, despite often being not well understood and oversimplified in BEPs due to its stochastic, diverse, complex and interdisciplinary nature [2]. Definition, estimation and intervention of OB become essential research challenges during building energy policy making, implementation and evaluation processes. Real OB US OB China OB EU OB EU regulation China regulation OB in regulation US regulation Country X OB Country X regulation Gap 2 Gap 1 Gap 3

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