A cross comparison between different methods measuring environmental parameters for occupant window behaviour

Abstract

When studying occupant window behaviour in buildings, the measurement of environmental factorsoften requires dedicated measuring equipment. Currently, there is no universally accepted methods forthe measurement, and in particular the location of sensors. Therefore, researchers more often selectedthe one they are most familiar with, which reduces the comparability of the collected data for differentstudies. This study, therefore, has carried out a comprehensive review on the existing methods used tomeasure significant environmental factors, such as indoor and outdoor temperatures, on occupantwindow opening behaviour. The study repeated different methods to measure both indoor temperatureand outdoor temperature in a case study and compared the measurement results. From the analysis, itwas found that the differences due to various indoor measurement methods was not quite significant,although there were obvious deviations from the reference value. Some environmental factors, such assolar gain and window opening, had greater influences and created larger differences. For outdoormeasurement, the distance between the location of measured data to the case study building seemed tohave significant impact. To make use of different behavioural studies as shared data base, it isrecommended to develop a comprehensive standard methodology for measuring environmental factors.