There are two important approaches to reduce the energy demand of the residential building sector: 1) retrofitting existing houses to be more energy efficient with building system upgrades and 2) changing home occupant behaviors toward sustainable and comfortable building operation. Both require a significant contribution from occupants. This research argues that individual citizens should be citizen building scientists, representing proactive and environmentally aware citizens who display active participation in building retrofits and share their knowledge for sustainable community development. The HBE lab comprehensively investigates such important role of citizen involvement to mitigate the grand energy challenge of residential building sector.
Researchers:
Nikhil Yaduvanshi, Drew Reiter
Selected Publications:
- N. Yaduvanshi & J.Y. Park (2023), Citizen building scientist? The opportunity and challenge of citizen involvement in building retrofits, Journal of Building Engineering
- N. Yaduvanshi & J.Y. Park (2023), Understanding occupant behavior and involvement to explore the impact of building retrofit programs, ASCE AEI Conference