Users' building optimal performance manual

Occupant behaviour has a significant impact on the overall energy performance of a building. The lack of awareness, misinformation and misunderstanding of the buildings’ systems and features are some of the key elements that impact the use of energy in buildings. This paper presents the results of a workshop performed to increase the awareness of the occupants of two university buildings, in Sydney Australia. The occupants were asked to provide their opinions on their interactions with the lighting, cooling, heating, equipment, windows opening and shading. Then, the behaviours collected in the surveys were converted into energy use, through building simulations, and the results presented in a workshop. After presenting the results, a brainstorming was promoted to collect occupants’ new perceptions based on the previous results. Occupants highlighted as one of the key impacting factors to high levels of energy use the lack of awareness. To answer to the outcome from the workshop, this paper suggested then the incorporation of a users’ building performance (U-BOP) manual as a tool to be used to increase occupant’s awareness and increase the overall performance of a building. It was used as an example and baseline for the manual the building user guideline (BUG) from Green Star and BREEAM, as well as exiting O&M reports. The results of this study and workshop should not be extended to other occupant behavioural situations and patterns. The results should be maintained within the present study and context.