Conference Year
July 2018
Keywords
Residential energy consumption, Experimental setup, Multifamily housing, Eco-feedback
Abstract
Most residential energy saving strategies require occupants’ participation because they control building and mechanical systems and pay their utility in general. One effective way to increase their participation is to motivate them to change their behaviors by providing relevant information and benefits in their interests. This paper presents baseline energy consumption characteristics in a multifamily housing for eco-feedback design. Although previous studies have proven the energy savings of eco-feedback and smart technology, the results were often mixed or weak because the building, mechanical, geographical, and demographical characteristics were different among houses to make a solid comparison, and the collection of detailed information in residential houses was not available in most cases. Multifamily housing provides a unique opportunity to observe the direct impact of interventions on energy consumption and related behaviors by excluding the effect of building and mechanical characteristics. This paper introduces a non-intrusive experimental setup by using off-the-shelf products to monitor detailed behavior-related information. In addition, we present various classification rules to formalize energy-related behavior such as thermostat-related actions, occupancy detection, and energy normalization. Finally, the use of the collected information is presented, which enables the design of personalized eco-feedback.