ZEMCH 2012 International Conference Proceedings - page 217

U s e r A w a r e n e s s t o E n e r g y C o n s e r v a t i o n S t r a t e g i e s
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Table 5: Energy Management Systems, (Ryan, 2011)
The focus of the UK government with regard to reduction in energy use and climate
change emissions has been on physical and intelligent systems with less emphasis on
human behavior. Table xx below show interesting attitudes and beliefs of the users of a
building that has won awards as most energy efficient building yet so far reveals
otherwise. It revealed that only a third (34.29%) were familiar with energy management
system and how it affected their energy use within the building. Literature review
consistently pointed to importance of feedback on energy use in buildings, figures (S7
and S8) revealed that when respondents were asked if the management presented them
with energy use data; almost two thirds, 61.76%, disagreed or strongly disagreed. In
addition only one tenth, 11.76% have ever received the data communicated to them in
visual or other easily understood methods. Most respondents 58.88%, regarded failures
in energy management systems as caused by ineffective interaction between humans
and the technology.
Conclusion
The work examined the use of sub metering technology with aims of reducing energy
use in the building and whether its use affected user behavior. It revealed firstly, that
most users who spent most of their working day in the building were not familiar with the
workings and benefits of the EMS technology. However, most revealing was the fact that
the users of the energy in the building were not provide with feedback and when
provided it was not in a user friendly and understandable manner that would affect their
working practices or behavior. There was no attempt by the management to
communicate and support or reinforce what would have emerged as best practices
working behavior that reduced energy consumption, in addition, the employees lacked
the motivation to change their behavior to be more energy efficient. The analysis further
revealed that there was underlying lack of involvement of the employees in the decisions
about the investment in energy efficient technologies, and the importance of changes to
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