Abstract
For better building system controls and occupant's comfort, a number of sensors and network technologies have been developed and applied to building systems. However, indoor environmental information (indoor air temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration, illumination level, luminance, etc.) is not properly provided for occupants in most modern buildings even though it has been well acknowledged that such information can impact occupant's behavior and increase occupant's satisfaction. As reported in many studies (IBPSA proceedings 2005-2011), understanding of occupant's behavior is very essential for better application of HVAC systems. This study reports the impact of environmental information on occupant's response and behavior. A series of experiments were conducted in a university laboratory (floor area: 54m2, the maximum number of occupants: 11) to analyze relationship between provision of information and response of occupants. As a result, occupants' behavior have been influenced by real-time provision of indoor environmental information. In particular, their responses to keep the CO2 concentration under 1,000ppm shows that occupants can become intelligent and energy-health-conscious agents when richer information is provided. In this paper, it is concluded that occupants can respond intelligently and successfully to indoor built environment when proper information is timely provided. The paper also shows that when occupants are informed of indoor environment, they can behave as an intelligent agent, far surpassing sophisticated mechanical systems.
