Energy-saving devices work – if you use them correctly

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2016/energy-saving-devices-work-if-you-use-them-correctly/?utm_campaign=media-pitch&utm_medium=email

[font face=Serif]Published: June 8, 2016
[font size=5]Energy-saving devices work – if you use them correctly[/font]

[font size=3]A well-insulated home with a high-efficiency air conditioner and programmable thermostat are only as effective as the person using it.

A new study led by Michigan State University and published in the current issue of Procedia Engineering shows that people living in green dwellings who don’t maximize their technology can lose half of the energy savings available to them.

“Technological advances in building and equipment account for only 42 percent of energy consumption,” said Dong Zhao, assistant professor in MSU’s School of Planning, Design and Construction. “That means that you could buy the greenest house on the market, yet your personal habits could waste more than 50 percent of your energy savings.”

As summer heats up and air conditioners kick on, this could be a concern for individual homeowners as well as commercial property owners managing business and residential occupants.

…[/font][/font]

[unc70]

1. Be nice if the story had a couple of examples or facts

Really expected to see a few paragraphs of data from their studies. Nothing but fluff.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Here you go

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.04.100

…

The model indicates four behavior variables that have significant interaction effects with building technologies (i.e., the estimated energy use) and the combination of which results in the actual energy consumption. These behavior variables and their beta coefficients are listed in Table 4. The findings suggest that the actual energy efficiency performance of green building technology may differ depending on the identified behaviors which include the summer thermostat setting, the winter thermostat setting, the humidity setting, and the education of building systems. For example, the behaviors from a resident who possesses building knowledge will significantly leverage the green building system’s performance and ultimately reduce the home’s overall energy consumption (? = -0.210, p = 0.003).

…