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A. Mahdavi, F. Tahmasebi et al.:
"Annex 66: Definition and Simulation of Occupant Behavior in Buildings Technical Report: Studying Occupant Behavior in Buildings: Methods and Challenges";
2017; 44 pages.

Introduction to Annex 66
Energy-related occupant behavior in buildings is a key issue for building design optimization, energy diagnosis, performance evaluation, and building energy simulation. Actions such as adjusting the thermostat for comfort, switching lights, opening/closing windows, pulling up/down window blinds, and moving between spaces, can have a significant impact on the real energy use and indoor environmental quality in buildings. Having a deeper understanding of occupant behavior, and quantifying their impact on the use of building technologies and building performance with modeling and simulation tools is crucial to the design and operation of low energy buildings where human-building interactions are the key. However, the influence of occupant behavior is under-recognized or over-simplified in the design, construction, operation, and retrofit of buildings.
Occupant behavior is complex and requires a multi-disciplinary approach if it is ever to be fully understood (Figure 1). On one hand, occupant behavior is influenced by external factors such as culture, economy and climate, as well as internal factors such as individual comfort preference, physiology, and psychology; On the other hand, occupant behavior drives occupants´ interactions with building systems which strongly influence the building operations and thus energy use/cost and indoor comfort, which in-turn influences occupant behavior thus forming a closed loop.
There are over 20 groups all over the world studying occupant behavior individually. However, existing studies on occupant behavior, mainly from the perspective of sociology, lack in-depth quantitative analysis. Furthermore, the occupant behavior models developed by different researchers are often inconsistent, with a lack of consensus in common language, in good experimental design and in modeling methodologies. Therefore, there is a strong need for researchers to work together on a consistent and standard framework of occupant behavior definition and simulation methodology.

(no german version) Introduction to Annex 66
Energy-related occupant behavior in buildings is a key issue for building design optimization, energy diagnosis, performance evaluation, and building energy simulation. Actions such as adjusting the thermostat for comfort, switching lights, opening/closing windows, pulling up/down window blinds, and moving between spaces, can have a significant impact on the real energy use and indoor environmental quality in buildings. Having a deeper understanding of occupant behavior, and quantifying their impact on the use of building technologies and building performance with modeling and simulation tools is crucial to the design and operation of low energy buildings where human-building interactions are the key. However, the influence of occupant behavior is under-recognized or over-simplified in the design, construction, operation, and retrofit of buildings.
Occupant behavior is complex and requires a multi-disciplinary approach if it is ever to be fully understood (Figure 1). On one hand, occupant behavior is influenced by external factors such as culture, economy and climate, as well as internal factors such as individual comfort preference, physiology, and psychology; On the other hand, occupant behavior drives occupants´ interactions with building systems which strongly influence the building operations and thus energy use/cost and indoor comfort, which in-turn influences occupant behavior thus forming a closed loop.
There are over 20 groups all over the world studying occupant behavior individually. However, existing studies on occupant behavior, mainly from the perspective of sociology, lack in-depth quantitative analysis. Furthermore, the occupant behavior models developed by different researchers are often inconsistent, with a lack of consensus in common language, in good experimental design and in modeling methodologies. Therefore, there is a strong need for researchers to work together on a consistent and standard framework of occupant behavior definition and simulation methodology.