Content area
Full Text
Introduction
Technological advances through the introduction of automated building controls to achieve energy savings in buildings are seen as limiting human interaction in buildings (He et al., 2021). Nevertheless, occupants find a way to interact with the building systems and features, producing unpredictable and random occupant behaviours (OB) (Day and O’Brien, 2017). The way occupants interact with these systems and the built environment may be inconsistent with the initial design parameters of the building (Deuble and de Dear, 2012; Schakib-Ekbatan et al., 2015). Also, it causes a change in the use of electrical equipment and occupancy patterns than what was assumed in the design phase (Schweiker et al., 2018).
Usually, these behaviours are possible when occupants are in discomfort and trying to create a comfortable environment by modifying building controls and systems (Heydarian et al., 2020). OB is deemed to improve indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in buildings via increased thermal, aural, visual and indoor air quality (IAQ) comfort (Asadi et al., 2017; Bluyssen, 2019). Furthermore, Day et al. (2020) showed that assessing and understanding how occupants use different building systems is still necessary while enriching knowledge about multi-domain comfort stimuli for OB. Therefore, building managers must implement energy-related initiatives based on occupants’ IEQ beliefs, comfort preferences and multi-domain discomfort sources when approaching occupant energy behaviours. However, the concern on these aspects is rarely addressed when introducing the technical innovations and improvements by the building managers (Zhang et al., 2018). Furthermore, occupants’ reactions to these technologies are lower than anticipated, and OB still demands higher energy than anticipated (He et al., 2021). Therefore, the research on the impact of OB on energy consumption is currently attracting significant attention (Bavaresco et al., 2021; Hong et al., 2017).
However, studies pointed out a gap between organisational energy and occupant-centred policies and approaches (Goulden and Spence, 2015). Not only occupants but multi-disciplinary efforts and knowledge are required to address OB in buildings (Bavaresco et al., 2020; Hong et al., 2016). Accordingly, there is a potential opportunity to achieve energy efficiency in buildings by the diverse parties (designers, building managers, owners and occupants) who engage with buildings (Stazi and Naspi, 2018). For instance, the owners prioritise energy-efficient investments at...