UK participation in IEA EBC Annex 79: Occupant behaviour-centric building design and operation

Understanding energy related occupancy behavior has been a key issue in reaching international and EU energy targets but the majority of policies and legislation are still very much focused on building envelope and HVAC efficiencies. However, occupancy behavior affects building energy requirements by around 50% and the UK mild climate is especially susceptible to occupants. Attempts to attenuate the effect of occupant behavior in building performance keep being the focus of automation technologies but actually, these interventions can be seen as controversial. They can many times intensify 'negative' behavior (leaving lights on, covering sensors, leaving windows open, etc.) and cause user dissatisfaction with building operation, which ends up being adapted to cope with complaints undermining the energy efficient potential of a building. Balances between user control and automated control became a subject of debate and the strong impact they have in energy performance prompted further investigations into the provision of guidance for designers and facilities managers on how to apply occupancy models in practice.

This proposal aims to fund Dr. Clarice Bleil de Souza to participate in the IEA Annex 79 "Occupant behavior-centric building design and operation". The Annex focuses on the integration and implementation of occupant behavior in building and systems design and operation through the development and deployment of methods, technologies and policies, which would enable buildings to be comfortable, adaptable, usable and energy efficient.

Dr. Bleil de Souza will mainly take part in the Annex activities related to Subtask 3; "Applying occupant behavior models in performance-based design process." This subtask explores methods to apply occupant modelling throughout the design process by evaluating their application in a set of focused case studies. She will provide her expertise in parts of this subtask, which involve data production and analysis specifically related to design decision-making. She will therefore contribute to planned activities related to the development of guidelines to choose occupant model approaches to be used throughout the design process, considering design aims, climate, building typology etc. (Planned activity 2). She will also contribute to the development of simulation-based design procedures (Planned activity 3) and effective ways of communicating occupant-related information between different stakeholders (Planned activity 5).

The impact of Annex 79 is expected to be felt worldwide affecting practitioners (architects, engineers and building managers); manufacturers of controls, HVAC, mechanical and electrical equipment and policy makers. Dissemination channels for the Annex as a whole, beyond conferences and journal publications, include panel discussions, presentations to different stakeholders, books, technical report and a set of guidelines to be implemented as policies and standards.

Dr. Bleil de Souza will take part in the Annex activities specifically related to disseminating best practices for occupant centric design workflows, optimal control strategies and lessons learned from focused case studies. She will push the dissemination of these best and optimal practices as well as lessons learned in the UK to the Chartered Institution of Building Service Engineers (CIBSE), potentially the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), one of the UK branches of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA England), the Welsh Government and the Welsh Building Industry. Dissemination activities will be organised through CRiBE, a knowledge transfer centre from the Welsh School of Architecture, which regularly organise events such as conferences, workshops and CPDs.

Besides that, she will also propose dissemination activities to outreach other EU countries via her involvement as sub-group leader in the Restore EU Cost Action network, a trans-national initiative to support the design of sustainable, restorative and regenerative buildings composed of around 120 members from 37 different countries across a wide range of different disciplines related to the built environment.

Dr. Bleil de Souza's participation in this Annex will enable her to collaborate with leading international researchers in the area of building design and operation and transfer knowledge from different parts of the world in these areas to the UK. Subtask 3 itself has around 32 researchers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Hungry, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, UK and USA, many of them coming from prestigious institutions and important research or commercial centres offering her the opportunity to be involved with researchers who are setting the international agenda in this area. This should facilitate the writing of academic papers as well as the participation in different types of research proposals either to be submitted to the EPSRC or other national and/or international funding bodies.