Understanding Thermal Preferences in Building Regulations

Imagine dedicating the next three years of your life to understanding and improving the way people and governments understand the ideal comfort temperature of individuals homes. This idea is the key foundation on which 24 year old University of Adelaide PhD candidate Lyrian Daniel will spend the next few years of her life and studies. Generating interest from the CSIRO, Lyrian has set about the task of measuring the thermal comfort, or preference (the ideal comfort temperature), of homeowners in eco-conscious homes. By placing a one-of-a-kind thermal measuring device, developed specially by Lyrian, in mud bricks homes in Victoria and permanently ventilated homes in the Northern Territory, Lyrian hopes to better understand how these homeowners regulate and set their own ideal temperatures. Lyrian has spent the last six years at the School of Architecture and Built Environment dedicated to understanding how energy regulations can be better shaped to more accurately represent the behaviours and needs of residential homeowners. Understanding how homeowners perceive and engage with energy efficiency in their own homes should influence how we regulate the building of new homes. If homeowners building new homes are taking into account ways to reduce their emissions through smart building practices and a positive energy efficiency mindset, regulatory bodies should recognise and reward this behaviour, using a carrot rather than a stick. Lyrian explains that government regulation does not currently take into account how an individuals temperature preference can influence their energy use behaviour. Current regulations focus specifically on the structural and material components of reducing energy usage but fail to account for, or even try to understand, how individual homeowners mindset might influence their use of energy. To understand Lyrians point we first must understand the purpose of National Construction Code. The National Construction Codes broad aim is to reduce the energy usage of new homes. Right now the National Construction Code focuses specifically on the material used within construction to monitor, control and meet this aim. An example is the use of double glazed windows to reduce heat dispersion in winter. A key sentiment throughout Lyrians research is the notion that buildings dont use energy, people do and this underpins the whole avenue of research for thermal preference and residential energy usage. Lyrian points out that we are trying to regulate carbon emissions from energy use and we're targeting the building fabric, not the behaviour this just seems crazy. Lyrian argues that while materials do play a significant role in determining the amount of energy a house may need to use, so does the ideology, or beliefs, of the homeowner. For example, think of

someone who believes in being environmentally friendly. A person with this mindset is inclined to use less energy to reduce emissions; this may mean using a blanket instead of the heater, or perhaps opening a window instead of turning on the air conditioning. The idea that an individuals personal ideology may influence their energy usage is currently overlooked by the National Construction Code. Lyrians research hopes to shed some light on this area and hopefully influence policy to better understand and take into account a homeowners ability to decrease energy usage. Lyrians study into thermal comfort is a unique study that focuses on engaging with individual homeowners to better understand their own efforts to reduce their energy usage and become more energy efficient. Combining both a social element with her expertise in architecture, Lyrian hopes to contribute a unique perspective to the debate shaping regulation and policy in Australia a perspective focused on the people who use the energy in a house. The National Construction code concentrates mainly on building materials and techniques to reduce emissions, an approach that Lyrian believes is too narrowly focused. Her study into thermal comfort and preference is centred on the notion that this regulation and policy must be extended to take into account individuals behaviours and attitudes and the great effect this can have upon their energy usage.

This article provides an overview of research into energy efficiency, sustainability, thermal comfort and energy efficiency regulation in relation to residential energy use. For further information on Lyrian Daniels PhD and the School of Architecture and Built Environment, please visit The University of Adelaide.