Developing a motivation-driven framework to understand energy-related occupant behavior in office buildings

Abstract

Previous studies have shown a remarkable energy performance gap between the predicted and actual building energy consumption in simulation tools (up to 300 percent). The understanding of occupant behavior has mostly been limited, and its role in building energy performance remained uncertain, confusing, and unpredictable. The uncertainty of occupant behavior has led to various data-driven behavioral models and tools to present the stochasticity and complexity of human-building interactions. This study aims to propose a motivation-driven framework built upon existing theoretical approaches by synthesizing (a) social psychology theories, including the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the self-determination theory (SDT), (b) building physics, and (c) perceived indoor environmental quality to enable socio-technical knowledge exchange and co-learning. Based on the survey of 242 full-time employees, this study found that psycho-social and motivational constructs were not statistically different among different office layouts and sizes. Perceived comfort (p = 0.027), energy-saving behavioral intention (p = 0.015), and energy-saving behavior (p = 0.043) were found to be statistically significant among different office sizes. Lastly, perceived comfort was found to be statistically related to energy-saving behavioral intention (p < 0.005) and energy-saving behavior (p < 0.001).