Brukarrelaterad energianvändning i flerbostadshus : En studie om möjliga beteendeförändringar

Sammanfattning:

On behalf of the engineering consultancy firm Incoord this study intends to study behavioural-related energy use in multifamily buildings, and how household electricity and domestic hot water can be minimized by behavioural-changes. The aim of the report is to answer whether it is possible to create incentives to change user behaviour. This report is created due to the increase of energy efficient buildings, where user related energy becomes a larger part of the building's total energy use. Domestic hot water and electricity are major categories in comparison with other categories that affect the building's total energy use why it is relevant to examine possible measures to reduce them.

The Swedish regulations does not include household electricity in the calculation of specific energy for the building, but energy for domestic hot water is included. A motivation for this, other than that it is easier this way, is hard to find. Input data for different energy calculations comes from the cross-industry development program SVEBY, which is considered the norm in the market. The standard value 25 kWh/m2 is used for energy use for domestic hot water in apartment buildings. This value does not appear to be changing in the near future, since the proposals to use a lower value when implementing new technologies or using an interval have not been successful.

In addition to the demands from Boverket there are many different classification systems with tougher energy requirements. FEBY12 is a common classification system on the Swedish market where zero-energy-, passive- and low energy buildings are classified. Passive houses have small transmission and ventilation losses and are considered to be relevant in the future.

The concept for passive houses can be used to meet future energy requirements, especially requirements for nearly zero-energy buildings, which will affect all new constructions built after the year of 2021. The requirements for nearly zero energy buildings in Sweden are not yet legislated but Boverket has made a suggestion for the Swedish application of nearly zeroenergy buildings where the system boundary is defined as delivered (purchased) energy.

Since human behaviour greatly affects the energy consumption in the household sector, it is important to understand human behaviour. However, the behaviour regarding energy consumption, is highly variable, which complicates an analysis in this area. An important observation is that there seems to be no correlation between use of domestic hot water and electricity in the household. Consumer behaviour has changed, users wash and shower more today than in the past, and the entertainment and information technology now uses more electricity than lighting and kitchen appliances. One of the most common measures to reduce energy consumption that are discussed in this report is the implementation of individual metering and billing.

It is hard to determine which behavioural changes will follow various instruments and technology since behaviour varies between different people and their situation. Due to this, it is difficult to determine which instruments and technologies that have the greatest effect. The instruments or technology to be used must be adapted to the situation. An interesting finding is that using the environmental issues as incentives are often not enough to influence users to reduce their energy use. However, money and savings in other ways are common incentives.

When the area concerning energy behaviour is studied, it is important to also study the psychological aspects that explain human behaviour. When psychology and technology are used together, it is possible to influence human behaviour. It is important however, that every situation is adapted to the receiver in order to achieve maximum effect.