Occupants' behaviour: an observation study for energy saving potential on lighting

Lighting tends to form a large part of the energy consumption in office buildings, which can be influenced by the use of sensors. Several sensor technologies have been developed throughout the years, like for example passive infrared systems. These are however limited in providing an understanding of occupants’ behaviour as they often only measure presence or
absence. Chair sensors form one of the latest developments. Although these provide occupancy information on a relatively fine-grained level, it is still unknown to which extent they incorporate all occupants’ behaviour. Therefore, in this study occupants’ behaviour in an open office space was observed as well as measured with chair sensors. The results suggested that chair sensors are only suitable half of the time to control lighting at an individual level. Furthermore, it was found that it is possible to tailor the lighting further to
occupants’ behaviour, and thus that even more energy can be saved on lighting use.