Sami Karjalainen

A number of studies have shown that feedback on users’ own energy consumption can be effective in reducing household energy consumption. Almost all the studies on presenting energy feedback relate to in-home displays and domestic environments, only a few concern other contexts. Building automation systems in modern office buildings collect a large amount of energy- and indoor-related measurements. In this study, the primary interest lies in how energy- and indoor-related measurements could be used to increase energy awareness and occupant satisfaction. The purpose of this work is to study the preferences of office occupants and to find out what kind of information they are interested in. A questionnaire was delivered to two buildings in Finland. The total number of respondents was 151. The results show that the respondents were more interested in receiving indoor-related information than energy-related information. They were especially interested in knowing the room temperature in their own office. Almost half of them were not interested in energy-related information since they chose none of the energy-related options. The most effective ways to increase energy conservation in offices are discussed.

There is a need for building performance monitoring because it is common that buildings do not perform as intended. A number of advanced tools for the purpose have been developed within the last tens of years. However, these tools have not been widely adopted in real use. A new tool presented here utilizes building automation data and transforms the data into a set of performance metrics, and is capable of visualizing building performance from energy, indoor conditions, and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to study the users’ perceptions of the use of tool. The research method was semi-structured interviews. Although the users were satisfied with the solution in general, it was not taken into operative use. The main challenges with the use of the solution were related to accessibility, trust, and management practices. The interviewees were struggling to manage with numerous information systems and therefore had problems in finding the solution and authenticating to it. All the interviewees did not fully trust the solution, since they did not entirely understand what the performance metrics meant or because the solution had limitations in assessing building performance. Management practices are needed to support the performance measurement philosophy.

This review examines scientific literature on the effect of gender on indoor thermal comfort. Gender differences have been generally considered to be small and insignificant but this review shows that a growing number of studies have found significant differences in thermal comfort between the genders. Clearly more than half of the laboratory and field studies have found that females express more dissatisfaction than males in the same thermal environments. Very few studies have found males to be more dissatisfied than females. A meta-analysis shows that females are more likely than males to express thermal dissatisfaction (ratio: 1.74, 95% confidence interval: 1.61-1.89). However, most studies found no significant difference in neutral temperatures between the genders. Females are more sensitive than males to a deviation from an optimal temperature and express more dissatisfaction, especially in cooler conditions. We should no longer neglect the more rigorous requirements that females have for indoor thermal environments. Gender differences indicate that females have, on average, a greater need for individual temperature control and adaptive actions than males. The results of this review suggest that females should primarily be used as subjects when examining indoor thermal comfort requirements, as if females are satisfied it is highly probable that males are also satisfied.