Actual Energy Consumption in Dwellings: The Effect of Energy Performance Regulations and Occupant Behaviour

Authors

Olivia Guerra Santin
TU Delft, Architecture and the Built Environment
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0151-3997
Keywords: energy efficiency, energy, energy consumption, dwellings

Synopsis

Residential buildings have continuously improved in energy efficiency, partly as a consequence of the introduction of energy regulations in many countries. Although better thermal properties and systems efficiency have lowered energy consumption for space heating in recent decades, substantial differences in energy consumption in similar dwellings are still being observed. These differences in consumption are thought to be caused by differences in occupancy patterns, by quality of construction and by rebound effects.

This research addresses the effect of energy performance regulations and occupant behavior on energy consumption for space and water heating in dwellings built after the introduction of the energy performance regulations in the Netherlands. The results of this research show that improving the energy efficiency of buildings alone is not enough to decrease that energy consumption. The large differences found in the use of dwellings indicate that, especially in energy efficient houses, occupant behavior provides an opportunity for further reductions in the energy consumption for space heating which could boost the efforts to conserve energy worldwide.

Downloads

Published

September 4, 2017

Online ISSN

1879-8330

Print ISSN

1574-6410

Details about this monograph

ISBN-13 (15)

9781607506508

Date of first publication (11)

2010-10-01

Physical Dimensions

165mm x 238mm