Understanding the dynamics of residential energy consumption in the UK: Mapping occupants thermal discomfort responses

摘要

Attempts to reduce the energy consumed in UK homes havehad limited success. One reason for this has been identifiedas the ‘rebound effect’, where the occupants’ responses to theirthermal environment change in unexpected ways after interventions.Although much of the research on heating patternsin dwellings has focused on achieving thermal comfort, lessis understood about the way occupants form their responses.Using empirical methods drawn from social and cognitivesciences, this paper proposes a set of tools, implemented in apilot study, carried out on a small sample of UK householdsduring winter of 2010. One of the tools used, the SenseCamfacilitates an electronic diary collection by logging occupants’responses in a systematic approach. Preliminary monitoringworks show that different householders are interacting withtheir home thermal comfort systems in very different ways,and that their responses diverge from the current predictivemodels. These results suggest that future samples may beexamined to gain further insights about the development ofideas in this field.