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Individual energy use and feedback in an office setting: A field trial

Murtagh, N; Nati, M; Headley, WR; Gatersleben, B; Gluhak, A; Imran, MA; Uzzell, D; (2013) Individual energy use and feedback in an office setting: A field trial. Energy Policy , 62 717 - 728. 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.090. Green open access

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Abstract

Despite national plans to deploy smart meters in small and medium businesses in the UK, there is little knowledge of occupant energy use in offices. The objectives of the study were to investigate the effect of individual feedback on energy use at the workdesk, and to test the relationship between individual determinants, energy use and energy reduction. A field trial is presented, which monitored occupant energy use and provided individual feedback to 83 office workers in a university. The trial comprised pre- and post-intervention surveys, energy measurement and provision of feedback for 18 weeks post-baseline, and two participant focus groups. The main findings were: statistically significant energy reduction was found, but not for the entire measurement period; engagement with feedback diminished over time; no measured individual variables were related to energy reduction and only attitudes to energy conservation were related to energy use; an absence of motivation to undertake energy reduction actions was in evidence. The implications for energy use in offices are considered, including the need for motivations beyond energy reduction to be harnessed to realise the clear potential for reduced energy use at workdesks.

Type: Article
Title: Individual energy use and feedback in an office setting: A field trial
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.090
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.090
Language: English
Additional information: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Keywords: Individual behaviour, Feedback, Office energy use
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1417347
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