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Presented By: The Center for the Study of Complex Systems

Effect of Social Sub-Networks on Energy Consumption in Commercial Buildings – An Agent Based Modeling Approach

Carol Menassa - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Michigan

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Despite significant technological advances in energy systems, commercial buildings continue to use more than 19% of total energy produced in the United States with adverse environmental and human health effects. Occupants’ energy use behavior is often neglected as a critical factor to achieve significant energy conservation in commercial buildings. This research investigates the occupant energy behavior challenge through data analysis and modeling. An agent based model is developed to simulate the complex social structures formed by independent entities with different organizational structures within a building. This model provides a realistic representation of social sub-networks in commercial buildings. It also simulates interactions between occupants resulting from interventions using the bounded confidence, relative agreement and diffusion theories from social sciences. Results from applying this model to a typical commercial buildings indicate significant differences in the results of an intervention between the existing single network modeling approach and multi sub-network approach, proving the latter to be more representative of occupant interactions in commercial buildings. These results also highlight the effect of extreme energy use behaviors on intervention success, and how moderate levels of interconnectivity between the different social sub-networks can significantly improve the energy saving potential from occupancy interventions. This model provides the decision makers with a framework to develop and evaluate occupant focused interventions for effective reduction in energy use in commercial buildings.
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