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Building Simulation 2016, 9(2): 221-231 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-015-0266-z
Research Article | Issue | Published: 10 December 2015

Occupants’ interactions with windows in 8 residential apartments in Beijing and Nanjing, China

Show Author's Information Shanshan Shi,  Bin Zhao( )
Department of Building Science, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Keywords:
building energy consumption, human behavior, window opening, indoor air, residence
Cite this article:
Shi S, Zhao B. Occupants’ interactions with windows in 8 residential apartments in Beijing and Nanjing, China. Building Simulation, 2016, 9(2): 221-231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-015-0266-z
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Occupants’ interactions with windows influence both building energy consumption and exposure to airborne pollutants indoors. Occupants’ window opening behavior varies from region to region due to physical environmental factors and social reasons. China is now confronting severe atmospheric pollution, which may affect occupants’ window opening behaviors. A field study was conducted in 8 naturally ventilated residential apartments in Beijing and Nanjing, China. This involved periodically monitoring window states of eight residential apartments within each season from October 2013 to December 2014 by magnetic induction devices (TJHY, CKJM-1). Relationships between the probability of window opening (p) and explanatory variables, including outdoor air temperature (to), outdoor relative humidity (RH), outdoor wind speed (Vs), and ambient PM2.5 (particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microns) concentrations (Cp), were analyzed. Stochastic models of occupants’ interactions with windows in monitored residences were established via univariate and multivariate linear logistic regression for both cities. According to the results, to is the most important explanatory variable affecting occupants’ interactions with windows in monitored residences. The best multivariate linear logistic model result from the "backward selection" procedure based on "Akaike Information Criterion" (AIC) includes to, RH, Vs and Cp as explanatory variables, which implied that outdoor air quality, represented by Cp, has become a concern affecting Chinese residents’ interactions with windows.


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Abstract
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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Occupants’ interactions with windows in 8 residential apartments in Beijing and Nanjing, China

Show Author's information Shanshan Shi, Bin Zhao( )
Department of Building Science, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract

Occupants’ interactions with windows influence both building energy consumption and exposure to airborne pollutants indoors. Occupants’ window opening behavior varies from region to region due to physical environmental factors and social reasons. China is now confronting severe atmospheric pollution, which may affect occupants’ window opening behaviors. A field study was conducted in 8 naturally ventilated residential apartments in Beijing and Nanjing, China. This involved periodically monitoring window states of eight residential apartments within each season from October 2013 to December 2014 by magnetic induction devices (TJHY, CKJM-1). Relationships between the probability of window opening (p) and explanatory variables, including outdoor air temperature (to), outdoor relative humidity (RH), outdoor wind speed (Vs), and ambient PM2.5 (particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microns) concentrations (Cp), were analyzed. Stochastic models of occupants’ interactions with windows in monitored residences were established via univariate and multivariate linear logistic regression for both cities. According to the results, to is the most important explanatory variable affecting occupants’ interactions with windows in monitored residences. The best multivariate linear logistic model result from the "backward selection" procedure based on "Akaike Information Criterion" (AIC) includes to, RH, Vs and Cp as explanatory variables, which implied that outdoor air quality, represented by Cp, has become a concern affecting Chinese residents’ interactions with windows.

Keywords: building energy consumption, human behavior, window opening, indoor air, residence

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 27 September 2015
Revised: 13 November 2015
Accepted: 19 November 2015
Published: 10 December 2015
Issue date: April 2016

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51521005), Public Scientific Research Project of Ministry of Environmental Protection of China (No. 201409080) and the Shanghai Tongji Gao Tingyao Environmental Science & Technology Development Foundation (STGEF). Many thanks to Mr. Huang Gong for his kind help during the experiment in Nanjing.

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