CAREER: Multi-Level Occupancy Intervention, Simulation and Education for Energy Reduction in Existing Buildings

1349921 (Menassa)。尽管技术取得了重大进步，但现有建筑仍然是能源的最大消费者和有害温室气体的排放者。虽然有人认为教育和信息共享是适当的节能占用干预策略，但没有实证研究来了解(1)不同的建筑居住者对干预策略的反应，(2)什么占用特征影响这种反应，(3)如何与其他策略补充教育以实现长期节能。(4)如何使用模拟来开发构建利益相关者的功能和教育环境。CAREER基金的目标是解决研究和教育中的这一差距，以实现对占用特征和社会关系的基本理解，这些特征和社会关系在诱导建筑物显著减少能源使用方面发挥了关键的调解作用。研究者将进行基础研究，设计适当的工具，并开发教育材料，以便在建筑物的占用水平上有效地实施节能干预策略。本研究旨在为理解建筑占用MOA （Motivation, Opportunity and Ability）和SNT （Social Network Topology）在决定干预策略有效性中的中介作用做出基础性贡献。这需要通过科学的方法定量测量占用MOA和SNT来实现。本项目的另一个重要的目标贡献是确定针对建筑居住者的各种能源干预策略之间的关键根本差异，并建立这些策略的有效性与特定建筑集群之间的相关性。这将大大减少在建筑中选择和实施能源干预策略所需的时间和精力，因为它为给定占用MOA和SNT特征的干预策略提供了基本的科学理解。最后，提出的研究目标是开发、测试和验证一个模型，使决策者能够了解建筑物中减少能源是如何受到建筑物影响的。占用MOA水平、SNT及干预策略的选择。这种理解和建模占用MOA和SNT在处理干预策略中包含的信息中所起的中介作用的方法旨在产生有效、经济和可持续的方法来减少建筑物的能源使用。通过不同的媒体传播项目成果将寻求对教育决策者产生重大影响，使他们了解选择哪种干预策略来实现建筑物的长期有效节能。作为该项目的一部分，研究者将利用密歇根大学现有的资源来实现她的研究和教育活动的充分整合。这些资源包括：(1)工程学与教研究中心（CRLT-Engineering），(2)美国国家科学基金会资助的密歇根路易斯斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟（MI-LSAMP），(3)工程推广和参与办公室（OEOE）和玛丽安萨拉帕克学者（MSP）计划，以及(4)本科生研究机会计划（UROP）。后三项合作将使研究者能够指导STEM学科中代表性不足的少数民族，他们有可能继续攻读研究生学位。在传统教育之外，这项研究的结果将通过在线课程传播给实践专业人士。

1349921 (Menassa). Despite significant advances in technology, existing buildings are still the highest consumers of energy and emitters of harmful greenhouse gases. While it is argued that education and information sharing are appropriate occupancy intervention strategies for energy reduction, no empirical research has been done to understand (1) how different building occupants respond to intervention strategies, (2) what occupancy characteristics influence this response, (3) how to supplement education with other strategies to achieve long term energy reduction, and (4) how simulation can be used to develop a functional and educational environment for building stakeholders. The goal of this CAREER grant is to address this gap in research and education to achieve a fundamental understanding of what occupancy characteristics and social relationships play a key mediation role to induce significant energy use reduction in buildings. The investigator will perform basic research, design appropriate tools, and develop educational materials to enable effective implementation of energy reduction intervention strategies at the occupancy level in buildings. This research is targeted to result in fundamental contributions to understand the mediation role that building occupancy MOA (Motivation, Opportunity and Ability) and SNT (Social Network Topology) play in determining the effectiveness of intervention strategies. This is to be achieved through a scientific approach to quantitatively measure the occupancy MOA and SNT. Additional important targeted contributions of this project are to identify the key fundamental differences among various energy intervention strategies aimed at building occupants, and to establish a correlation between the effectiveness of these strategies and specific building clusters. This would significantly reduce time and effort required to choose and implement energy intervention strategies in buildings by providing a fundamental scientific understanding of what intervention strategies can be applied for given occupancy MOA and SNT characteristics. Finally, the proposed research targets to develop, test and validate a model that allows decision makers to understand how reducing energy in their buildings is influenced by the buildings? occupancy MOA levels, SNT and proper selection of intervention strategies. This approach to understanding and modeling the mediation role that occupancy MOA and SNT play in processing information included in intervention strategies aims to result in effective, economical and sustainable approaches to reduce energy use in buildings. The dissemination of the project results through different media will seek to have a significant impact of educating decision makers about which intervention strategies to choose to achieve long term and effective energy reduction in their building. As part of this project, the investigator will leverage existing resources at the University of Michigan to achieve full integration of her research and educational activities. These resources include: (1) The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineering (CRLT-Engineering), (2) the NSF-funded Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (MI-LSAMP), (3) the Office of Engineering Outreach and Engagement (OEOE) and Marian Sarah Parker Scholars (MSP) Program, and (4) the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). The latter three collaborations will allow the investigator to mentor underrepresented minorities in STEM disciplines, with them potentially moving on to pursue graduate degrees. Beyond traditional education, the results of this research will be disseminated through online course offerings to practicing professionals.