Typical energy-related behaviors and gender difference for cooling energy consumption

Abstract

Abstract The aim of the study is to identify male and female typical energy-related behaviors that have a great influence on energy consumption, which provides reference for building designers and policy makers. Previous studies focused on investigating the influence of one or two specific kinds of energy-related behaviors on building energy consumption. Besides, significant differences between females and males regarding energy-related behaviors have been highlighted in many studies. However, an integrated and in-depth analysis of typical energy-related behavior and gender difference for cooling energy consumption is yet to be conducted. To fill this research gap, this paper investigated correlation between cooling energy consumption and energy-related behaviors with empirical data for different genders, and identified male and females’ typical energy-related behaviors respectively by applying data mining approach. Data concerning energy use and energy-related behaviors were collected from Energy Management System and questionnaire respectively. Results show that there are significant differences in cooling energy consumption between genders. For both males and females, the daily average hours of air conditioning utilization, electric fans usage instead of air conditioner, and the ratio of occupancy in rooms are typical behaviors influencing cooling energy consumption. The comparative study between genders indicates that the frequency of air conditioner use is a typical behavior influencing cooling energy consumption, especially for females. However, thermal preferences have more noticeable influence on cooling energy consumption for males than females. The study not only helps improve modeling accuracy of occupant behavior in design simulation, but also helps prioritize efforts to guide occupant behavior in order to reduce building energy consumption in operation stage.