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Assessment of the Impact of Occupants’ Behavior and Climate Change on Heating and Cooling Energy Needs of Buildings

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  • Gianmarco Fajilla

    (Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
    Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal)

  • Marilena De Simone

    (Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy)

  • Luisa F. Cabeza

    (GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, 25001 Lleida, Spain)

  • Luís Bragança

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal)

Abstract

Energy performance of buildings is a worldwide increasing investigated field, due to ever more stringent energy standards aimed at reducing the buildings’ impact on the environment. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact that occupant behavior and climate change have on the heating and cooling needs of residential buildings. With this aim, data of a questionnaire survey delivered in Southern Italy were used to obtain daily use profiles of natural ventilation, heating, and cooling, both in winter and in summer. Three climatic scenarios were investigated: The current scenario (2020), and two future scenarios (2050 and 2080). The CCWorldWeatherGen tool was used to create the weather files of future climate scenarios, and DesignBuilder was applied to conduct dynamic energy simulations. Firstly, the results obtained for 2020 demonstrated how the occupants’ preferences related to the use of natural ventilation, heating, and cooling systems (daily schedules and temperature setpoints) impact on energy needs. Heating energy needs appeared more affected by the heating schedules, while cooling energy needs were mostly influenced by both natural ventilation and usage schedules. Secondly, due to the temperature rise, substantial decrements of the energy needs for heating and increments of cooling energy needs were observed in all the future scenarios where in addition, the impact of occupant behavior appeared amplified.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianmarco Fajilla & Marilena De Simone & Luisa F. Cabeza & Luís Bragança, 2020. "Assessment of the Impact of Occupants’ Behavior and Climate Change on Heating and Cooling Energy Needs of Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:23:p:6468-:d:458207
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mariola E. Zalewska, 2021. "The Impact of Incentives on Employees to Change Thermostat Settings—A Field Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Gianmarco Fajilla & Emiliano Borri & Marilena De Simone & Luisa F. Cabeza & Luís Bragança, 2021. "Effect of Climate Change and Occupant Behaviour on the Environmental Impact of the Heating and Cooling Systems of a Real Apartment. A Parametric Study through Life Cycle Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Seyedeh Farzaneh Mousavi Motlagh & Ali Sohani & Mohammad Djavad Saghafi & Hoseyn Sayyaadi & Benedetto Nastasi, 2021. "The Road to Developing Economically Feasible Plans for Green, Comfortable and Energy Efficient Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-30, January.

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