The human dimension of energy efficient built environments

Numeric simulation tools are commonly used to predict buildings' energy performance for different purposes, such as for certification or optimisation measures. However, the actual buildings' energy use often deviates from the predicted (simulated) building energy use. This deviation is typically indicated as energy performance gap (EPG). As such, there can be multiple reasons for this mismatch. Recently, especially the impact of building users has been suggested to be a key contributor to the EPG. To this end, this effort critically reflects building users' impact on the energy performance of buildings in three steps. First, the spectrum of potential uncertainties in building energy use predictions are outlined. Second, two illustrative case studies are discussed that explore the impact of building users' behaviour and interaction with building interfaces on the energy performance via different modelling approaches and simulation techniques. Finally, the paper discusses potential mitigation strategies that could support both control opportunities for building users and energy efficiency goals.