Understanding occupants’ behaviour and the mixed-mode strategy in office buildings in southern Brazil

Occupants’ behaviour is one of the most important factors to impact on indoor building environments and energy use[1]. Studies have shown that there is a gap between predicted and actual energy use due to poor consideration of the occupants’ behaviour[2,4]. The objective of this study is to improve understanding of occupants’ behavior and describe a mixed-mode strategy for ventilating and climatizing office buildings in southern Brazil. Mixed-mode or hybrid ventilated buildings integrate the natural ventilation and the air-conditioning system by responding to thermal conditions (e.g., through an automation system) or through occupant intervention (e.g., opening windows). Models of adaptive behaviour often focus on actions aimed at adapting the environment to the occupant’s needs (e.g. window and solar-shading operations, adjusting thermostats, etc.)[5,8] Few papers have focused on actions aimed at occupants’ adaptation to the prevailing conditions such as adjusting one’s clothing or the consumption of hot and cold beverages[9,10]. In this work, we intend to go beyond the typical behavioural models of building simulation to provide insights into other adaptive actions, such as changing clothes and drinking habits during working hours.