• Energy Research

Reducing office buildings’ energy consumption can contribute significantly towards carbon reduction commitments since it represents ∼40% of total energy consumption. Major components of this are lighting, electrical equipment, heating, and central cooling systems. Solid evidence demonstrates that individual occupants’ behaviors impact these energy consumption components. In this work, we propose the methodology of using virtual choreographies to identify and prioritize behavior-change interventions for office users based on the potential impact of specific behaviors on energy consumption. We studied the energy-related office behaviors of individuals by combining three sources of data: direct observations, electricity meters, and computer logs. Data show that there are behaviors with significant consumption impact but with little potential for behavioral change, while other behaviors have substantial potential for lowering energy consumption via behavioral change.

The energy efficiency requirements of most energy-consuming sectors have increased recently in response to climate change. For buildings, this means targeting both facility managers and building users with the aim of identifying potential energy savings and encouraging more energy-responsible behaviors. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platform developed in Horizon 2020 FEEdBACk project intends to fulfill these goals by enabling the optimization of energy consumption, generation, and storage and control of flexible devices without compromising comfort levels and indoor air quality parameters. This work aims to demonstrate the real-world implementation and functionality of the ICT platform composed of Load Disaggregation, Net Load Forecast, Occupancy Forecast, Automation Manager, and Behavior Predictor applications. Particularly, the results obtained by individual applications during the test phase are presented alongside the specific metrics used to evaluate their performance.

Energy efficiency in buildings can be enhanced by several actions: encouraging users to comprehend and then adopt more energy-efficient behaviors; aiding building managers in maximizing energy savings; and using automation to optimize energy consumption, generation, and storage of controllable and flexible devices without compromising comfort levels and indoor air-quality parameters. This paper proposes an integrated Information and communications technology (ICT) based platform addressing all these factors. The gamification platform is embedded in the ICT platform along with an interactive energy management system, which aids interested stakeholders in optimizing “when and at which rate” energy should be buffered and consumed, with several advantages, such as reducing peak load, maximizing local renewable energy consumption, and delivering more efficient use of the resources available in individual buildings or blocks of buildings. This system also interacts with an automation manager and a users’ behavior predictor application. The work was developed in the Horizon 2020 FEEdBACk (Fostering Energy Efficiency and BehAvioral Change through ICT) project.