Influencing Human Behaviour to Optimise Energy in Commercial Buildings

This paper discusses the impact of user energy choices on building energy demand, and how energy choices could be influenced to minimise building energy consumption using information systems. Accordingly, a socio-technical framework is designed and presented, which draws upon the use of energy interventions. A novel Social-Economic-Environmental (SEE) model is presented within the socio-technical framework which is aimed at nudging inhabitants enabling them to conserve energy in the university buildings, thereby making the world a sustainable place to live. The framework takes into account the Agent-based Modelling (ABM) approach to model user energy choices and their willingness to conserve energy in buildings. This research intends to test the socio-technical framework in the next stage of this study. Finally, this paper highlights gaps and the significance of understanding how user behaviour and their energy consumption can be influenced to optimise energy in university buildings, thereby reducing global greenhouse emission

A review on motivational nudges for enhancing building energy conservation behavior

This paper explores energy use interventions and their influence on human behavior in commercial and institutional buildings. The main objectives of this paper are to identify the importance of nudges in reducing building energy usage and the implementation methods that can influence users to conserve energy in buildings through context specific interventions. A qualitative research method is used to elicit existing energy saving techniques, and a rigorous literature review is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of nudges. The investigation shows that combining multiple influencing options and interactive technological interventions can result in an effective nudging mechanism at a larger scale. Widely adopted technological tools identified in energy conservation in buildings included eco-feedback systems, IoT engagement systems, and recommendation systems that shared clear information to enable users to change their behavior. Besides, non-technological tools, such as posters and moral appeal by word of mouth, are highlighted as influencing user behavior to conserve energy in buildings. The use of nudges in commercial and institutional buildings has been studied in this review, and it has been demonstrated that the combination of influencing techniques is more effective than deploying a particular technique. It is concluded that energy conservation can be predicated in agent-based environments by modeling integrated nudges in future work