Modeling User Control of Environmental Systems in Office Buildings

The focus of the study is to observe and analyze control-oriented occupants' behavior toward lighting, shading and natural ventilation systems based on a long-term study in two office buildings. Internal and external parameters; state ofoccupancy, state of lights, indoor and outdoor illuminance, temperature, relative humidity, state of shades and windows were continuously observed and recorded every five minutes over the period of 9 and 12 months. Subjective impressions and attitudes of observed building occupants were documented with questionnaires. Based on the results from this research, operation of the buildingsystems partly depends on indoor/outdoor conditions. Therefore, itis necessary to have accurate information about user controlbehavior in office buildings in order to predict buildingperformance and energy consumption. These behavioral patterns canbe used to develop empirically supported predictive models forcontrol oriented occupant actions in buildings, building simulationprograms, building automation systems, energy management and energycontracting to improve energy effectiveness, occupants' comfort andinnovation of user interfaces products.