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Related Work
Much effort has been made in researching how inhabitant behavioural patterns can
influence energy consumption. The work in (Seryak and Kissock 2000; Masoso and
Grobler 2009) demonstrated that variations in occupant behaviour could result in
variations in energy consumption. The light models (Newsham et al. 1995; Reinhart
2004) were developed to link the presence of occupants with the use of a lighting
appliance. The Monte-Carlo based method (Capasso 1994) was used to derive the daily
presence profile of occupants based on average daily availability at home. The work in
(Bourgeois 2008) proposed a Markov model to simulate the occupants’ presence by
using a weekly profile of the presence probability as input. A stochastic model (Page et
al. 2008) had been proposed to model and simulate how an occupant interacts with a
building, such as by opening windows and blinds. The model also showed the capability
to reproduce key properties of occupant presence, including times of arrival and
departure, periods of intermediate absence and presence as well as periods of long
absence from a zone in the building, which could be a direct input for energy
consumption analysis. The research in (Masoso and Grobler 2009) showed the energy
consumption during non-working hours to be more than that during working hours, since
occupants often leave appliances on. An occupancy-based control model (Ha et al.
2006) was proposed to understand lighting energy use in a single building by tracking
individual instances of occupants and their interaction with objects. Most existing models
considered in non-domestics buildings. However, domestic energy consumption and
user behavioural patterns have not been fully explored yet. We still know little about how
occupants manage the energy consumption and how energy conscious behaviour of the
occupants could be achieved (Chetty 2008). This paper aims to explore the relationship
between the energy consumption and lifestyles of occupants.
Promoting Energy Conscious Behaviours through Monitoring Energy Usage Pattern
To understand the energy usage patterns of households, we have used the data
collected from a specific family living in a post-war three-bedroom house in Scotland (a
couple with full-time jobs and two school-aged children). Through monitoring and
analysing the energy consumption of the existing home, we aim to provide information in
relation to how the family use the energy daily, weekly so that the family clearly become
aware of the energy consumption at different time granularities and therefore potentially
achieve their energy conscious behaviour by changing their habits. On the other hand,
the result of analysis will be also used to compare against the energy consumption of the
new ZEMCH 109 House (NRGStyle 2012) which has been proposed for the actual
delivery in the future. Note that the purpose of ZEMCH 109 project is to conduct a
feasibility study for building new zero energy mass custom home in Scotland initially and
providing a living, working model for achievable sustainability that can be replicated
nationwide and with energy performance that can be monitored. By using the energy
usage analysis of existing home, we will be able to understand how sustainable the new
build is, in terms of energy consumption in respect to the existing post-war housing the
family currently live in.
To collect the data, the EWGECO monitoring system (EWGECO 2012) has been
installed in the family house, which monitors real time energy data for gas, electricity,
water and renewables. The system allows the house owner to understand how their
everyday lives affect the amount of energy they consume on day-to-day basis.
