Interdisciplinary approaches to studying occupant behavior

The issue of occupant behavior and its impact on building energy use is a highly complex problem that is not influenced by technology-driven measures or technologies alone. Researchers in Annex 66 activities argue that achieving global energy efficiency and carbon reduction goals in the building sector require an interdisciplinary understanding of the “human dimensions” of building energy use. In this context, Annex 66 proposed a research agenda integrating occupant behavior within an interdisciplinary approach that combines insights from the technical, analytical, and social dimensions of building energy use. Research under Annex 66 activities aims to establish methodologies, case studies, an innovative research framework, and tools to support researchers in the interdisciplinary fields of building, social, and data sciences, to better understand and quantify the influence of occupant behavior on building energy performance. This chapter summarizes the main activities, outcomes and findings from interdisciplinary research under Annex 66, including: (1) the needs and approaches of interdisciplinary research, (2) a review of occupant behavior survey studies, (3) the integrated occupant behavior framework and cross-country occupant behavior survey, and (4) the challenges of interdisciplinary occupant behavior research.