Self-Report Diary: A Method to Measure Use of Office Lighting

摘要

This methodological study was conducted to examine thensuitability and reliability of the diary form to measure lighting use innwork places. The occupants of 18 single-occupant offices were asked tonreport in diary form on their lighting-use-related activities and timesnpresent in their offices for one workday every two months from Junen2009 through May 2010. Electronic measurement of the occupants’ntime in their offices and use of ceiling luminaires was recorded by datanlogger during the same period.nThe self-reported data correlated significantly with the logged datanfor the occupants’ for the two variables investigated: (i) regulating ofnceiling luminaires, and (ii) occupancy of their offices. The correlationnwas strongly significant between self-reported- and logged data withnregard to light-on time, while a weak relationship was identifiednbetween the self-reported- and logged data regarding occupancy time.nConsidering the relationship between light-on time and occupancy time,na significant relationship from the self-reported data was found, but,nunlike the logged data, these two variables did not seem to relate toneach other. The results suggest that the diary form is suitable tonmeasure office occupants’ use of general lighting (ceiling luminaires),nparticularly for a short-term use, whereas the suitability to measurenpresence in offices is questionable. The diary form was also able toncharacterize the amount of energy used for lighting. However, the formnshould be improved to obtain more accurate responses and to indicatenthe lighting levels provided by dimming controls.