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Building Simulation 2015, 8(5): 499-513 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-015-0230-y
Research Article | Issue | Published: 13 May 2015

Influence of occupant’s behavior on heating needs and energy system performance: A case of well-insulated detached houses in cold climates

Show Author's Information Usman Ijaz Dar1( ),  Laurent Georges1,  Igor Sartori1,2,  Vojislav Novakovic1
Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology - Trondheim, Norway
SINTEF Building and Infrastructure, Oslo, Norway
Keywords:
occupant behavior, heat pumps, occupant diversity, energy system performance, passive houses
Cite this article:
Dar UI, Georges L, Sartori I, et al. Influence of occupant’s behavior on heating needs and energy system performance: A case of well-insulated detached houses in cold climates. Building Simulation, 2015, 8(5): 499-513. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-015-0230-y
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Abstract Full text About this article

Modeling simplification related to occupant’s behavior is a major cause of gap between actual and model’s predicted energy use of buildings. This paper aims to identify those parameters of realistic occupants-related heat gains that actually cause this gap. The investigation therefore, systematically distinguishes the occupant behavior using three behavior parameters, namely: the occupancy behavior, the appliance use behavior and the family size. The effect of these parameters is investigated on a building for two different insulation standards using heat pump as energy supply system. The results identifies the occupancy patterns and the household size as two major parameters that explains a large portion of the gap between actual and model’s predicted energy use of the building. Results further show that variation in household sizes is an important parameter to understand the variation in the actual energy use for similar buildings. The study also shows a clear influence of occupant’s behavior on the performance of heat pumps and pinpoints the variations in share of space heating needs compared to domestic hot water needs as a major cause for this influence. Sensitivity of findings is tested against building thermal mass and condensing gas boiler. Analysis shows no significant variations in the conclusions. The study therefore concludes that using identified parameters in modeling practices can contribute to improve the prediction of actual energy use of buildings.


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About this article

Influence of occupant’s behavior on heating needs and energy system performance: A case of well-insulated detached houses in cold climates

Show Author's information Usman Ijaz Dar1( ), Laurent Georges1, Igor Sartori1,2, Vojislav Novakovic1
Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology - Trondheim, Norway
SINTEF Building and Infrastructure, Oslo, Norway

Abstract

Modeling simplification related to occupant’s behavior is a major cause of gap between actual and model’s predicted energy use of buildings. This paper aims to identify those parameters of realistic occupants-related heat gains that actually cause this gap. The investigation therefore, systematically distinguishes the occupant behavior using three behavior parameters, namely: the occupancy behavior, the appliance use behavior and the family size. The effect of these parameters is investigated on a building for two different insulation standards using heat pump as energy supply system. The results identifies the occupancy patterns and the household size as two major parameters that explains a large portion of the gap between actual and model’s predicted energy use of the building. Results further show that variation in household sizes is an important parameter to understand the variation in the actual energy use for similar buildings. The study also shows a clear influence of occupant’s behavior on the performance of heat pumps and pinpoints the variations in share of space heating needs compared to domestic hot water needs as a major cause for this influence. Sensitivity of findings is tested against building thermal mass and condensing gas boiler. Analysis shows no significant variations in the conclusions. The study therefore concludes that using identified parameters in modeling practices can contribute to improve the prediction of actual energy use of buildings.

Keywords: occupant behavior, heat pumps, occupant diversity, energy system performance, passive houses

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Publication history
Copyright

Publication history

Received: 30 January 2015
Revised: 21 April 2015
Accepted: 22 April 2015
Published: 13 May 2015
Issue date: October 2015

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
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