Engaging End Users in Green Building Design Software

Green building design is a socio-technical process, so it is important to engage end users (e.g. building occupants) in requirements gathering. Given that a majority of software tools used in designing green buildings are aimed at engineers, we must determine the most effective way of communicating information about energy use requirements to end users, who are typically unfamiliar with energy analysis techniques. The green building design community is at an early stage in considering how to include end users in the design process. Research has not yet determined how best to present environmental impact information to end users in order to engage them in the process. Research in green building design can benefit from the lessons learned from Requirements Engineering in the software community. This paper outlines an intended research methodology and a literature review. The research will involve an exploratory case study of a Toronto-based green home renovation company that focuses on a holistic building approach. By following clients through their renovation projects, we hope to explore two research questions: why homeowners renovate their homes, and how the industry currently presents information to end users about green home renovation and green home requirements.