2008; Nicol, 2001). These papers are concerning differences of
occupant behaviour, but not in detail the variations between
different types of persons. However, a classification into active
and passive occupants can be found.
Schweiker and Shukuya (2009) presented the first paper
dealing with the combination of these two aspects. They used
multivariate logistic regression analyses to extract a variety of
individual factors, such as the attitude towards the air-conditioning
unit (AC-unit) or the climate a person had spent the majority
of his or her first 10 years of life. The latter factor is called the
climatic background. In doing so, they clarified the effect of those
factors on the behaviour compared to the external factors such as
outdoor air temperature. Their results suggest that in summer the
influences of the external factors are similar to those of the
individual factors, while on the other hand, in winter the
differences in individual factors have a much higher effect on
the behaviour than the outdoor air temperature.
In order to see the importance of such findings with respect to
exergy consumption and energy use in buildings, this paper looks
at the effect such individual differences of the occupants’
behaviour have on the exergy consumption pattern in comparison
to the improvements of building envelope systems. The main
distinctiveness of exergy analysis to energy analysis is that it
considers the qualitative aspect of energy as a quantity to be
calculated, e.g. energy, which is entirely convertible into other
types of energy, is exactly exergy, i.e. the highest valued energy
such as electricity. Energy, which has a very limited convertibility
potential, such as thermal energy close to room air temperature, is
low valued energy. Due to such a characteristics, the exergy
analysis is useful to have a clearer look at sustainability, because it
enables us to supply high quality, where high quality is really
needed and low quality wherever possible. In such a way, its
application assures an optimal usage of the existing resources.