User control of indoor-environmental conditions in buildings: An empirical case study

As in most buildings windows, shades, luminaries, radiators, fans, and other control devices can be operated by building occupants, information on user control behavior is crucial toward accurate prediction of building performance (energy consumption, indoor environment). The present contribution describes an effort to observe control-oriented occupant behavior in an educational building over a period of one year. The observations regarding control behavior tendencies imply dependencies both on indoor and outdoor environmental conditions and contribute, thus, toward the derivation of realistic user action models for building performance simulation applications.