The effect of occupant behaviour on the performance gap: UK residential case studies

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Bahadori-Jahromi, Ali ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0405-7146, Salem, Radwa, Mylona, Anastasia, Hasan, Agha ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7345-6418 and Zhang, Hexin (2022) The effect of occupant behaviour on the performance gap: UK residential case studies. Sustainability, 14 (3).

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Official URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1362

Abstract

Studies have shown that the assumptions used to create dynamic thermal models of buildings do not reflect their actual energy use. This is known as the energy performance gap. Bridging the energy performance gap is vital in ensuring that a designed or retrofitted building meets the energy performance targets that are set at the beginning of a project. Using thermal analysis simulation software Tas, this paper presents a simulation model of seven different UK single family houses. The results from the various models are validated by comparing the actual energy consumption (as obtained from energy bills) against the simulated consumption. The simulation results show that the heating set point has the greatest impact on the simulated energy consumption out of the other investigated factors. The results also demonstrate that the energy consumption of the dwellings can be reduced by appropriately applying window opening schemes and by controlling the heating setpoint temperature and schedule. Plug load consumption is also considered within this study by using plug load data of real UK households as obtained from a longitudinal study and calibrating the model based on average plug load contributions for the various households. The results showed that by increasing the heating set point and heating and window opening schedules by 10% from self-reported data and by also considering an additional 12% for plug loads the energy performance gap is reduced to less than >15% for all examined houses.

Item Type:	Article
Identifier:	10.3390/su14031362
Keywords:	thermal analysis simulation, performance gap, residential homes, occupant behaviour
Subjects:	Construction and engineering > Civil and environmental engineering Construction and engineering > Built environment
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Ali Bahadori-Jahromi
Date Deposited:	25 Jan 2022 17:51
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2024 11:23
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/8744

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The effect of occupant behaviour on the performance gap: UK residential case studies

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