Defining occupancy patterns through monitoring existing buildings

Simulation programs are used to calculate the energy performance of buildings. However, numerous studies have shown a gap between calculated and actual thermal performance of buildings. One of the factors that have been identified as a source of uncertainty in building simulations is the occupancy of the building and occupants' behaviour. These parameters are usually defined based on standards or assumed conditions. Thus, this research focuses on the occupants' presence and behaviour in residential buildings. This paper presents an investigation on energy demand via dynamic building simulations and monitoring campaigns. The values obtained from the monitoring campaign were used as input data into the thermal simulation program and a comparison between normative and actual occupancy patterns was performed based on an occupied dwelling in Madrid, Spain.