The hopeful expect to be comfortable: Exploring emotion and personal norms related to sustainable buildings in the United States

Abstract

Sustainable buildings are designed to reduce energy use and other environmental impacts and to provide indoor environmental conditions that maximize well-being and satisfaction among building occupants. However, occupants' comfort in and satisfaction with such buildings has been inconsistent. Evidence indicates occupants' expectations of indoor building environments influence their perceptions of climatic conditions (e.g., temperature) and comfort while in buildings. Accordingly, it is important to better understand a priori expectations associated with sustainable buildings. An online experiment examined the influence of exposure to a depiction of a sustainable vs. a conventional building on a priori expectations of indoor environmental conditions/quality (IEQ) as a measure of anticipated comfort. The study also examined the extent to which personal norms moderated and the emotion of hope mediated the influence of building type. Results indicated more positive expectations of IEQ associated with the sustainable building, but such effects were largely explained by mediating effects of hope, indicating an important role of discrete, goal-directed hope in predicting expectations of conditions in sustainable buildings. Personal norms did not moderate the effects of building type on hope or expectations. IEQ expectations were also correlated with less anticipated need to use personal appliances or make personal adjustments in order to stay comfortable in the building.