The effect of real-time context-aware feedback on occupants’ heating behaviour and thermal adaptation

Abstract

Studies have shown that building energy demand in identical dwellings could vary by a factor of three. Differences in occupant behaviour-i.e. purchase, operation and maintenance-have been implicated as a strong source of these differences. The literature suggests that feedback on energy use to building occupants-particularly real-time feedback-can be used to prompt lower operation-related energy behaviours. This is particularly true for thermal demand which, in cold countries, accounts for four times as much energy use as non-thermal demand. However, there is little evidence to support this claim. Further, there are concerns that the actions that allow occupants to lower heating energy use could negatively impact their comfort by lowering indoor temperatures or air quality below acceptable thresholds. We report results from a winter field study that used in-depth energy, environmental and motion sensing to generate real-time context-aware feedback through a smartphone application. Subjective data and clothing levels were concurrently collected through questionnaires. Our results suggest that real-time feedback could lower radiator and room temperatures without significantly affecting occupant thermal comfort. The results also show that real time feedback could contribute to an increase in occupant perceived environmental control (a key variable in the theory of adaptive thermal comfort) while prompting lower heating energy behaviours.

Influencing energy and water use within a home system of practice

“…This is in accordance with previous research which showed that warmth is closely related to comfort [66]. However, is has also been demonstrated that temperature adjustments do not necessarily impact on thermal comfort [45].…”

“…coaching, audits, community courses), goal setting, prompts, comparison with other households, targeted information provision and real-time feedback delivery through ICT. The effectiveness of feedback systems to reduce long term resource use is unclear; some researchers have shown that they generate positive outcomes [43][44][45][46] while others believe them to only be relevant in the short term [7,11,12]. Nevertheless, individual response varies with approach and therefore mixing technical and social approaches may lead to improved consumer engagement enabling change [47].…”

Indoor environment quality and work performance in “green” office buildings in the Middle East

“…To address RQ1 and the latter half of RQ2, continuous on-site monitoring of T a , RH, and CO 2 was conducted in the investigated buildings (Table 5) (Elnaklah 2020). Continuous measurements were undertaken using Raspberry-Pi-based sensors that have undergone rigorous testing and calibration, making them suitable for obtaining time series with good accuracy (Vellei et al 2016;Lovett et al 2016). Monitored buildings were provided with 83 Raspberry-Pi to monitor air temperature and relative humidity, and 21 Raspberry-Pi to monitor CO2 (Figure 4).…”

The Relation between Effective Temperature and Thermal Sensation Vote in Tropical Vernacular Houses

“…The study was carried out during transitional periods from dry to rainy season. Every period will create occupants' thermal responses [8]. The periods were selected based on the belief that the periods will create unique responses.…”