LAPSE:2023.28083
Published Article
LAPSE:2023.28083
Assessment of the Impact of Occupants’ Behavior and Climate Change on Heating and Cooling Energy Needs of Buildings
April 11, 2023
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.
Keywords
climate changes, DesignBuilder, energy needs, occupant behavior, residential buildings, ventilation
Suggested Citation
Fajilla G, De Simone M, Cabeza LF, Bragança L. Assessment of the Impact of Occupants’ Behavior and Climate Change on Heating and Cooling Energy Needs of Buildings. (2023). LAPSE:2023.28083
Author Affiliations
Fajilla G: Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy; Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal [ORCID]
De Simone M: Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy [ORCID]
Cabeza LF: GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, 25001 Lleida, Spain [ORCID]
Bragança L: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal [ORCID]
Journal Name
Energies
Volume
13
Issue
23
Article Number
E6468
Year
2020
Publication Date
2020-12-07
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
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Original Submission
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PII: en13236468, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2023.28083
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doi:10.3390/en13236468
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Apr 11, 2023
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CC BY 4.0
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