Description
The occupant level influences the resulting energy use in buildings as well as indoor climate. Heat gains from people are directly influenced, but there is also a reasonable correlation to use of household electricity that adds to the internal heat gain. An example of the importance is that the variation over a normal day in occupancy level and household electricity can be equivalent to an 8°C (14°F) outdoor daily temperature difference in a high performance building in south Sweden, where the actual outdoor temperature variation is remarkably lower than so, typically 4°C (7°F). That means that time resolved data on occupancy level and household electricity is more important than time resolved outdoor temperatures. There have been few studies that measured occupancy and the measurement period in these studies have generally been two or three days only. As a part of a broader study, occupancy levels were measured in 86 apartments in Sweden over 2 weeks with a 1 minute resolution using newly developed electronic diaries where the occupants reported when entering or leaving the apartment. This paper present descriptive data of the occupancy level in an effort to provide help with the design and optimization of new as well as renovated high performance residential buildings towards the net zero energy use. A promising way to lower energy use in residential buildings is to install demand controlled ventilation. To be able to simulate the benefit from demand controlled ventilation, time resolved data of occupancy levels are crucial. Based on the described occupancy levels, simulations of energy benefits from demand controlled ventilation versus constant airflow ventilation in apartments in low energy buildings are shown.
Citation: ASHRAE Papers: 2015 ASHRAE Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA
Product Details
- Published:
- 2015
- Number of Pages:
- 8
- Units of Measure:
- Dual
- File Size:
- 1 file , 890 KB
- Product Code(s):
- D-AT-15-C061
