This paper presents diversity factors recommended for use in energy simulation programs that require the input of hourly usage of electricity Jor lighting and receptacle loads relative to the installed lighting/equipment capacity. Typical weekday and weekend profiles are presented for small, medium, and large office buildings. The diversity profiles were developedfrom year-long records from 46 ...

Many innovative techniques and policy measures have been introduced to reduce energy consumption. Despite the high ambitions and societal pressures, the adoption rate of energy measures in office buildings is still low. Using adoption theories this paper provides a framework to analyse the adoption process of energy saving techniques in building processes. This framework is used to analyse the ...

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Despite the significant progress observed over the last decades, the European building stock still consumes significant amounts of energy (39% of the total final energy), whilst it does not always provide the conditions required for occupants’ well-being and thermal comfort sensation. In order to achieve the goal of nearly or even zero energy buildings, a deep refurbishment of the building stoc...

In 2002, the European Commission (EU) issued a Directive aiming to reduce the energy consumption of buildings, which was adopted by the EU member states and came into force in 2006. Portugal adopted it by issuing law decrees in 2006 which considered not only the energy saving aspects but also additional specific measures aiming to protect indoor air quality (IAQ). This new legislation is now be...

In the European project OFFICAIR a procedure has been prepared for the inventory and identification of associations between possible characteristics of European modern offices (building, sources and events) and health and comfort of office workers, via a questionnaire and a checklist including environmental, physiological, psychological and social aspects. This procedure was applied in circa 16...

Harmonic current pollution is a one of the major power quality problem in electrical power systems. In office buildings one of the main harmonic sources is a large numbers of computer loads. Especially, personal computers apply harmonic distortions to their power supply systems. In this study, harmonics models of equipments, a MATLAB ® code and single-phase Simulink simulation models are develo...

We describe a decentralized system consisting of a collection of software agents that monitor and control an office building. It uses the existing power lines for communication between the agents and the electrical devices of the building, such as sensors and actuators for lights and heating. The objectives are both energy saving and increasing customer satisfaction through value added services...

Bioaerosol concentrations in office environments and their roles in causing building-related symptoms have drawn much attention in recent years. Most bioaerosol studies have been cross-sectional. We conducted a longitudinal study to examine the characteristics of airborne fungal populations and correlations with other environmental parameters in office environments. We investigated four office ...