Occupant productivity and office indoor environment quality: A review of the literature

The “human dimensions” of energy use in buildings refer to the energy-related behaviors of key stakeholders that affect energy use over the building life cycle. Stakeholders include building designers, operators, managers, engineers, occupants, industry, vendors, and policymakers, who directly or indirectly influence the acts of designing, constructing, living, operating, managing, and regulating the built environments, from individual building up to the urban scale. Among factors driving high-performance buildings, human dimensions play a role that is as significant as that of technological advances. However, this factor is not well understood, and, as a result, human dimensions are often ignored or simplified by stakeholders. This paper presents a review of the literature on human dimensions of building energy use to assess the state-of-the-art in this topic area. The paper highlights research needs for fully integrating human dimensions into the building design and operation processes with the goal of reducing energy use in buildings while enhancing occupant comfort and productivity. This research focuses on identifying key needs for each stakeholder involved in a building’s life cycle and takes an interdisciplinary focus that spans the fields of architecture and engineering design, sociology, data science, energy policy, codes, and standards to provide targeted insights. Greater understanding of the human dimensions of energy use has several potential benefits including reductions in operating cost for building owners; enhanced comfort conditions and productivity for building occupants; more effective building energy management and automation systems for building operators and energy managers; and the integration of more accurate control logic into the next generation of human-in-the-loop technologies. The review concludes by summarizing recommendations for policy makers and industry stakeholders for developing codes, standards, and technologies that can leverage the human dimensions of energy use to reliably predict and achieve energy use reductions in the residential and commercial buildings sectors.

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The human dimensions of energy use in buildings: A review

Energy consumption, indoor thermal comfort and air quality in a commercial office with retrofitted heat, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system

This study introduces an interdisciplinary framework for investigating building-user interaction in office spaces. The framework is a synthesis of theories from building physics and social psychology including social cognitive theory, the theory of planned behavior, and the drivers-needs-actions-systems ontology for energy-related behaviors. The goal of the research framework is to investigate the effects of various behavioral adaptations and building controls (i.e., adjusting thermostats, operating windows, blinds and shades, and switching on/off artificial lights) to determine impacts on occupant comfort and energy-related operational costs in the office environment. This study attempts to expand state-of-the-art understanding of: (1) the environmental, personal, and behavioral drivers motivating occupants to interact with building control systems across four seasons, (2) how occupants’ intention to share controls is influenced by social-psychological variables such as attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in group negotiation dynamic, (3) the perceived ease of usage and knowledge of building technologies, and (4) perceived satisfaction and productivity. To ground the validation of the theoretical framework in diverse office settings and contexts at the international scale, an online survey was designed to collect cross-country responses from office occupants among 14 universities and research centers within the United States, Europe, China, and Australia.

/pdf/synthesizing-building-physics-with-social-psychology-an-30bgb0fccp.pdf

Synthesizing building physics with social psychology: An interdisciplinary framework for context and occupant behavior in office buildings

Policies for energy conservation and sufficiency: review of existing policies and recommendations for new and effective policies in OECD countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to research the impact of sustainable office buildings on occupant's comfort and self‐assessed performance and work engagement.Design/methodology/approach – The research consists in an empirical study of 18 office buildings and is based on survey data from almost 1,500 employees.Findings – The study shows that the building itself has a clear impact on the comfort level of the building user. Also, the positive impact of certain features, such as operable windows and the absence of air conditioning, can be clearly identified. While productivity is not directly correlated to comfort levels, work engagement is. Generally, the analysis shows that specific building aspects seem to have an influence on user comfort and with that, also an impact on productivity; however, this impact appears to be limited.Originality/value – This is a very important insight since this shows the connection between employee and company and thus demonstrates that a high user comfort can reduce t...

Impact of sustainable office buildings on occupant's comfort and productivity

Energy consumption in office buildings depends on energy efficient construction and technology, but is also significantly affected by occupant behavior and facilities management practices. It is not clear, however, which reasons account for occupant energy consumption and what measures can be taken to realize latent energy saving potentials.
The aim of this study consists in the analysis of causes of energy-inefficient occupant behavior and thus to provide background information for organizational measures targeted at the reduction of energy-consumption. In the present study we investigated these questions by asking office occupants about (a) their energy related behavior, (b) reasons for suboptimal energy related consumption and (c) their knowledge of energy efficient behavior in office buildings. 
1174 occupants working in 12 office buildings participated in an online survey. The results show that up to 20 per cent of occupants report bringing personal electronic devices to the workplace. Around 10 per cent of the occupants have manipulated ventilation ducts in their work area in order to optimize their comfort. The study shows that the main reasons for not acting energy efficiently are not attitudes or goals. They relate to a lack of information, lack of incentives, and habits. This finding is further supported by the survey participants’ statements about the three most effective actions occupants can take to reduce energy consumption in the building. The most cited action taken by respondents to reduce energy consumption was to switch off lights when they were not required. There were a number of more effective energy efficiency measures that were not cited frequently (such as reducing heating), indicating a lack of awareness.
It is recommended that organizations implement awareness and feedback systems tailored to organizational practices in order to change occupant’s habits. FM departments should take the responsibility of analyzing energy-related occupant behavior and of leading projects to increase energy-efficiency and sustainability in organizations.

/pdf/the-role-of-office-users-in-the-sustainability-of-office-fx4hguk0rx.pdf

The role of office users in the sustainability of office buildings – an empirical investigation and implications for FM

There is a growing interest in research dealing with energy performance gaps of buildings. Energy performance gaps are usually defined as the difference between energy demand as predicted during the planning phase and energy demand as measured during operation. It is assumed that the research strand, by reducing such gaps, contributes to the United Nations SDGs 7 (clean energy), 11 (sustainable cities) and 13 (climate action). However, in this conceptual article based on literature review we argue that blind spots in the current definition of energy performance gap research (embodied energy, gap between optimal and planned energy performance, greenhouse gas emissions, dynamic character) and weaknesses of frequently used scientific paradigms (techno-economic, psychological) may lead to the fact that the measures identified to eliminate energy-wasting and climate-damaging practices are of limited value. In fact, it is quite possible that conventional energy performance gap research even contributes to perpetuating such practices. The authors therefore call for a definition and paradigm shift in energy performance gap research, suggesting two broader definitions of the research subject (called life cycle energy performance gaps and climate performance gaps) and a promising alternative scientific paradigm (practice theory).

/pdf/call-for-a-definition-and-paradigm-shift-in-energy-43x2g7zrg2.pdf

Call for a definition and paradigm shift in energy performance gap research

During the research project "Quality of Sustainable Buildings" (English: QSB, German: QNB), 27 office buildings in Switzerland were investigated Objective measurements (air quality CO2, air temperature, relative humidity) were performed and in addition, data on subjective judgements were collected using questionnaires The analyses of this paper focus on the characteristics of ventilation (natural, mechanical and hybrid ventilation) Mechanically ventilated buildings indicated some advantages during the summer period with respect to the air temperature and in the winter with respect to the air quality (CO2) For naturally ventilated buildings, disadvantages during the winter were observed with respect to the air quality (CO2) The same buildings showed some advantage of a higher relative humidity in the winter period compared with the mechanically ventilated buildings Subjective judgements did more or less correspond with the measured data However, some parameters did not Additional parameters for qualifying indoor air quality (here measured as CO2 concentration) need to be considered In addition, the study showed a quite good quality (measured and judged) for most of the buildings In order to contribute to energy savings and to achieve a better level of indoor air quality (eg humidity), indoor air temperature could be reduced in winter without negatively affecting the comfort requirements of the office users

Indoor air conditions in offices with different ventilation regimes - results from the QSB project (quality of sustainable buildings)

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