Interactions between the Built Environment and the Energy-Related Behaviors of Occupants in Government Office Buildings

Abstract

Human behaviors that greatly influence building energy consumption are stimulated by the indoor environment. However, the relative importance of different environmental factors remains unclear. Previous literature mostly focused on single behavior. Holistic study of multiple energy-related behaviors is scarce. To fill the gap, this study investigated 22 government office buildings in Sichuan using questionnaires and field measurement. Environmental factors were ranked based on the two dimensions of “importance level’level” and “satisfaction level”. The key energy-related behaviors were identified by the comparative study between low- and high-energy-consuming buildings. Lastly, interactions between the building energy consumption, indoor environment quality, occupants’ satisfaction, and human behaviors were analyzed. Questionnaires reveal that most occupants consider indoor air quality as the prior “pain point” while feeling satisfied enough with the thermal environment. Although people attach less importance to the acoustic environment, they manifest evident discontent, suggesting that noise control is an urgent imperative. In contrast, occupants are relatively unconcerned with illuminance, which implies the feasibility of saving energy by reasonably reducing lighting requirements of some non-critical areas. The comparative study indicates that increased energy consumption was attributable to extra personal appliances, wasteful air conditioning habits, and the lack of ventilation in summer. The objective environment of high-energy-consuming buildings is slightly better. However, the difference in perceived satisfaction was not obvious. The findings of this study contribute to determining the most noteworthy environmental factor and the key energy-related behaviors and provide reference information for optimizing energy-saving strategies.