Representations of people in Urban Building Energy Models

Occupant behaviour is commonly acknowledged as a key driver for variation in building energy performance (Gaetani et al., 2016). ASHRAE (2009) notes it as an important factor in the significant discrepancy between proposed building performance and actual energy consumption. A large body of literature exists dedicated to exploring energy behaviours and the need for more holistic considerations of energy behaviours, but this has not been connected to occupant modelling in Urban Building Energy Models (UBEMs). This paper develops a framework to identify and classify representations of people in UBEMs by reviewing and connecting the behaviour change and UBEM literatures. Combined with the classification of the approaches of people's representation, we show that schedule-based models perform better although it cannot provide a full explanation of energy practices. While agent-based approaches offer the potential to incorporate the more holistic approaches called for by Kierstead (2006) the computational burdens which result may be excessive at the urban scale. The main framework developed can provide simulation practitioners with insights into energy behaviours.