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A. Mahdavi:
"People, Systems, Environment: Exploring the patterns and impact of control-oriented occupant actions in buildings.";
Keynote Lecture: PLEA 2007 Sun Wind and Architecture, 24th International Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture 22-24 November 2007, Singapur; 2007-11-22 - 2007-11-24; in: "PLEA 2007 SUN, WIND and ARCHITECTURE - 24th International Conference on pASSIVE AND LOW ENERGY ARCHITECTURE 22 - 24 November 2007", S. Wittkopf, B. Tan (ed.); (2007), ISBN: 978-981-05-9400-8; 8 - 15.

In most buildings, people operate control devices such as windows, shades, luminaires, radiators, and fans to bring about desirable indoor environmental conditions. These control actions hava a significant - yet often neglected - impact on buildings' performance and sustainability (energy use, indoor climate). A better understanding of the logic and patterns of such control-oriented user behavior can not only facilitate better predicitons of buildings' performance, but also support the effecitve operation of buildings' service systems. This paper describes an extensive empirical study of control-oriented user behavior (as related to systems for lighting, shading, ventilation, and heating) in a number of office buildings in Austria. The results specifically shed light on the relationships between control actions and environmental conditions inside and outside buildings.

building systems, controls, energy, indoor climate, people, behavior