Occupant behavior and energy consumption in residential buildings in a humid subtropical climate

Zamonato, Bruna; Faccin, Henrique; Grigoletti, Giane de Campos

doi:10.1590/s1678-86212025000100929

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Article • Ambiente Construído 25 • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-86212025000100929 linkcopy

Occupant behavior and energy consumption in residential buildings in a humid subtropical climate

Comportamento do usuário e consumo de energia em edificações residenciais localizadas em clima subtropical úmido

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Buildings consume large amounts of electricity and occupant behavior is a key factor influencing this; mainly through interactions with the building and personal habits. This article investigates occupant behavior in multifamily housing in Brazil, a developing country with a humid, subtropical climate, focusing on thermal comfort and energy consumption. A survey was applied to residents of 155 homes located in Santa Maria, in southern Brazil, obtaining their perceptions of thermal comfort and adaptative behavior. Monthly energy consumption data were obtained for 51 homes. Results showed a relationship between occupant behavior, demographics, and energy consumption. The main actions investigated were opening and closing windows and wearing clothes according to thermal comfort. Occupant income influenced air-conditioning use for heating, and ages affected strategies to achieve thermal comfort. Occupation criteria and air-conditioning setpoints were also influenced by family characteristics. This study reinforces the importance of understanding building occupant profiles to achieve greater energy efficiency.

Keywords
Occupant behavior; Residential building; Energy consumption; Subtropical climate

Month	Min. temp. (ºC)	Max. temp. (ºC)	Rainfall (mm)
January	19.8	30.9	166.3
February	19.4	29.9	139.6
March	18.5	29.1	127.7
April	15.0	25.7	170.1
May	12.0	22.0	154.4
June	10.3	19.7	149.1
July	9.4	19.0	159.0
August	10.5	21.4	111.2
September	11.9	22.1	158.5
October	14.8	25.2	173.3
November	16.4	27.8	132.7
December	18.6	30.3	154.3

Contextual factors		N	Heat discomfort			Cold discomfort
Factor	Group	N	Freq.	χ²	p-value	Freq.	χ²	p-value
AC			(cooling)			(heating)
income χ² (gl = 2)	up to 4	53	33	3.80	0.15	16	6.81	0.03
	5 a 10	49	45			21
	>10	53	49			34
age range χ² (gl = 3)	young people	50	36	1.16	0.76	20	3.00	0.39
	adults	57	47			23
	elderly people	22	20			11
	children	26	24			17
floor level χ² (gl = 3)	T+1^st	35	31	0.47	0.92	15	1.28	0.73
	2^nd	25	21			11
	3^rd	39	29			15
	>4^th	56	46			30
solar radiation (Binomial)	Sunny	114	97		0.55	56		0.35
solar radiation (Binomial)	Shaded	41	30		0.55	15		0.35
comfort perception χ² (gl = 2) v χ² (gl = 3) i	comfort	4 \| 22	2	0.49	0.78	2	8.12	0.04
	slightly warm/cold	7 \| 39	5			18
	warm/cool	46 \| 56	38			29
	heat/cold	98 \| 38	82			22

Contextual factors		Fisher	Equipment use pattern
Contextual factors		Fisher	Absolute result								Result in %
Factor	Grupo	p-value	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Fan
Income	≤ 4	<0.01	6	0	10	10	14	3	10	0	11	0	19	19	26	6	19	0
	5 to 10		11	0	7	19	4	3	3	2	22	0	14	39	8	6	6	4
	>10		15	0	10	10	8	8	2	0	28	0	19	19	15	15	4	0
Floor	T+1^st	0.04	4	0	9	15	3	1	2	1	11	0	26	43	9	3	6	3
	2^nd		5	0	4	6	4	3	3	0	20	0	16	24	16	12	12	0
	3^rd		4	0	10	9	7	5	4	0	10	0	26	23	18	13	10	0
	>4^th		19	0	4	9	12	5	6	1	34	0	7	16	21	9	11	2
AC (ventilation mode)
Age range	Young	<0.01	21	0	0	1	4	3	3	18	42	0	0	2	8	6	6	36
	Adult		18	0	2	7	11	7	1	11	32	0	4	12	19	12	2	19
	Elderly		4	0	1	1	4	5	1	6	18	0	5	5	18	23	5	27
	Children		10	0	2	3	1	6	3	1	38	0	8	12	4	23	12	4
AC (cooling mode)
Income	≤ 4	0.03	15	0	4	7	15	2	9	1	28	0	8	13	28	4	17	2
	5 to 10		2	0	2	17	14	2	12	0	4	0	4	35	29	4	24	0
	>10		2	0	8	14	19	3	7	0	4	0	15	26	36	6	13	0
Heater
Perception of thermal comfort (cold or hot)	comfort	0.02	12	0	1	0	4	1	3	1	55	0	5	0	18	5	14	5
	slight discomfort		17	0	2	1	15	2	0	2	44	0	5	3	38	5	0	5
	discomfort		18	0	6	11	17	2	0	2	32	0	11	20	30	4	0	4
	Significant discomfort		8	0	5	3	17	3	1	1	21	0	13	8	45	8	3	3
AC (heating mode)
Income	≤ 4	<0.01	19	0	1	3	11	3	5	11	36	0	2	6	21	6	9	21
	5 to 10		10	0	2	5	21	1	3	7	20	0	4	10	43	2	6	14
	>10		6	0	7	6	20	7	3	4	11	0	13	11	38	13	6	8
Sunlight through windows	sunny	0.01	21	0	10	13	37	11	7	15	18	0	9	11	32	10	6	13
Sunlight through windows	shady	0.01	14	0	0	1	15	0	4	7	34	0	0	2	37	0	10	17

Contextual factors		Fisher	Number of months of AC use (cooling)
Contextual factors		Fisher	Absolute result/Result in %
Factor	Group	p-value	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
AC (cooling)
Income	≤ 4	<0.01	14	0	3	5	13	15	2	0	0	1	0	0	0
	5 to 10		3	0	2	10	10	12	7	4	0	0	0	0	1
	>10		1	0	2	11	13	12	7	3	3	1	0	0	0
Income (%)	≤ 4		26	0	6	9	25	28	4	0	0	2	0	0	0
	5 to 10		6	0	4	20	20	24	14	8	0	0	0	0	2
	>10		2	0	4	21	25	23	13	6	6	2	0	0	0

Contextual factors			Fisher	Number of months of AC use (heating)
Contextual factors			Fisher	Absolute result							Result in %
Factor	Group		p-value	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	0	1	2	3	4	5	6
AC (heating)
Income	≤ 4	<0.01		25	1	12	12	3	0	0	47	2	23	23	6	0	0
	5 to 10			14	3	11	12	5	2	2	29	6	22	24	10	4	4
	>10			6	5	10	18	12	2	0	11	9	19	34	23	4	0
Age range	Young	0.04		20	3	12	9	4	0	2	40	6	24	18	8	0	4
	Adults			19	3	10	18	4	3	0	33	5	18	32	7	5	0
	Elderly			3	2	3	8	6	0	0	14	9	14	36	27	0	0
	Children			3	1	8	7	6	1	0	12	4	31	27	23	4	0
Percep-tion of comfort	comfort	0,03		11	1	4	3	1	2	0	50	5	18	14	5	9	0
	little cold			12	3	10	10	4	0	0	31	8	26	26	10	0	0
	cold			14	4	15	17	4	0	2	25	7	27	30	7	0	4
	very cold			8	1	4	12	11	2	0	21	3	11	32	29	5	0

Contextual factors		Fisher	AC setpoint
Contextual factors		Fisher	Absolute results								Results in %
Factor	Group	p-value	N	<17	18-20	21-23	24-26	27-29	>30	C	N	<17	18-20	21-23	24-26	27-29	>30	C
AC (cooling)
Income	≤ 4	<0.01	15	1	9	20	4	0	15	1	28	2	17	38	8	0	0	2
	5 to 10		2	4	9	30	3	0	2	4	4	8	18	61	6	0	0	0
	>10		1	1	8	25	15	1	1	1	2	2	15	47	28	2	0	0
Age range	Young	<0.01	13	1	6	25	3	0	13	1	26	2	12	50	6	0	0	0
	Adults		4	5	9	27	10	0	4	5	7	9	16	47	18	0	0	2
	Elderly		0	0	9	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	41	36	9	0	0	0
	Children		1	0	2	15	7	1	1	0	4	0	8	58	27	4	0	0
AC (heating)
Income	≤ 4	0.02	23	0	0	2	7	6	8	0	43	0	0	4	13	11	15	0
	5 to 10		11	1	1	3	13	10	4	0	22	2	2	6	27	20	8	0
	>10		7	1	1	7	13	13	6	0	13	2	2	13	25	25	11	0

Parameter	Group	Number	%
Number of residents	1	16	31%
	2	17	33%
	3	9	18%
	4	7	14%
	5	2	4%
Minimum wage range	≤ 4	14	27%
	5 to 10	13	25%
	< 10	24	47%
Age range	Young	10	20%
	Adults	25	45%
	Elderly	8	16%
	Children	10	20%
Floor level	Ground and first floor	10	20%
	2^nd	7	14%
	3^rd	18	35%
	≥ 4^th	16	31%
Direct sunlight	Sunny	41	80%
Direct sunlight	Shady	10	20%

Number of residents	1	2	3	4	5	Total
Total energy consumption (kWh)	1,351	2,628	3,476	3,850	3,740	2,588
Per capita consumption (kWh/person)	1,351	1,314	1,159	962	748	1,148
Sample	16	17	9	7	2	51

Coefficients	Estimate	Standard error	T-statistic	p-value	Significance
(Intercept)	244.1	472.1	0.52	0.61
Number of residents per home	391.0	131.9	2.97	<0.01	**
Freezer	844.2	279.3	3.02	<0.01	**
Tumble dryer	464.4	282.0	1.65	0.11
AC window	423.3	245.7	1.72	0.10	.
AC split	444.0	129.3	3.44	<0.01	**
Fan	315.4	143.2	2.20	0.04	*
Heater	-273.9	172.3	-1.59	0.12
AC (cool) use – On in occupied rooms	2,854.7	1,050.2	2.72	0.01	*
AC (cool) use – Sometimes for long periods	4,462.0	1,269.8	3.51	<0.01	**
AC (cool) use – Sometimes for short periods	3,260.0	1,218.5	2.68	0.01	*
AC (cool) use – Occasionally, for short periods	3,699.4	1,283.0	2.88	<0.01	**
AC (cool) use – To sleep	3,610.7	1,193.3	3.03	<0.01	**
AC setpoint (cool) – 18ºC to 20ºC	-4,724.5	1,374.7	-3.44	<0.01	**
AC setpoint (cool) – 21ºC to 23ºC	-5,070.8	1,382.0	-3.67	<0.01	**
AC setpoint AC (cool) – 24ºC to 26ºC	-5,501.9	1,415.5	-3.89	0.00	***
AC (cool) months of use	279.0	103.2	2.70	0.01	*
AC (heat) use – On in rooms with occupants	3,318.0	973.8	3.41	<0.01	**
AC (heat) use – To sleep	-1,202.3	546.6	-2.20	0.04	*
AC setpoint (heat) – 18ºC to 20ºC	-1,597.7	803.6	-1.99	0.06	.
AC setpoint (heat) – 24ºC to 26ºC	-1,358.8	295.4	-4.60	0.00	***
AC setpoint (heat) – over 30ºC	-979.3	386.5	-2.53	0.02	*
AC (heat) months of use	373.9	120.7	3.10	<0.01	**

Profile		Profile 1	Profile 2	Profile 3	Profile 4
Occupant characterization	Age range	18 to > 60	30 to 59	>18 + <18	18 to > 60
Occupant characterization	Income (minimum wage)	< 4	>10	> 10	5 to 10
Occupant data (schedule, window use, AC use in cooling and heating mode)	Occupancy	out of the home all day	Part-time	all day at home	lunch time at home
	Window use	opened sometimes to refresh the air	opened when occupants are at home	closed at night	closed at night
	AC use - cooling	A few times per day, for a short time	to sleep	A few times per day, for a short time	A few times per day, for a short time, to sleep
	AC use - heating	A few times per day, for a short time	A few times per day, for a short time	A few times per day, for a short time	A few times per day, for a short time

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[1] Note: Key: equipment use pattern: (1) do not have or use, (2) always on in all rooms, (3) on in occupied rooms, (4) sometimes for a long period, (5) sometimes for short periods of time, (6) occasionally, for a short period, (7) to sleep, (8) always off.