[...] most POE studies of green bui

[...] most POE studies of green buildings have focused on more easily quantifiable criteria such as energy use and physical measurements of environmental conditions, which at best give an indirect assessment of how the building is affecting the occupants.
It is well established that post-occupancy evaluations produce valuable feedback about occupant satisfaction and behaviour but they can also provide valuable insights into how energy is being consumed in buildings. The way that occupants experience, use and control buildings partially determines energy performance (Birt and Newsham, 2009; Dietz et al., 2009; Gill et al., 2010). As Cole (2003, p. 57) points out: “buildings designed with excellent ‘green’ performance standards can be severely compromised because the specification and technical performance fail adequately to account for the inhabitants’ needs, expectations and behaviour”.
POE is also useful for determining occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ). IEQ comprises four key factors: thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting and noise (ASHRAE, 2012) and is one of the design areas for which LEED buildings are rated. LEED Canada NC 2009 includes eight credits for indoor environment and a total of fifteen points are available, as well as two required prerequisites (CaGBC, 2010). Points can be scored for thermal comfort, indoor air quality and lighting, but not acoustics (which is being integrated in the most recent version of LEED). The buildings involved in this study all received either 9 or 10 points out of the 15 possible (CaGBC, 2013).