Buildings consume a significant amount of energy, estimated at about one-third of total primary energy resources. Building energy efficiency has turned out to be a major issue in limiting the increasing energy demands of the sector. Literature shows that building user behavior can increase the efficiency of the energy used in the building and different strategies have been tested to address and support this issue. These strategies often combine the quantification of energy savings and qualitative interpretation of occupant behavior in order to foster energy efficiency. Strategies that influence building occupant behaviors include eco-feedback, social interaction, and gamification. This review paper presents a study conducted on the state of the art related to the impact of building user behavior on energy efficiency, in order to provide the research community with a better understanding and up-to-date knowledge of energy, comfort-related practices, and potential research opportunities. Achieving and maintaining energy-efficient behavior without decreasing the comfort of building occupants still represents a challenge, despite emerging technologies and strategies as well as general research progress made over the last decade. Conclusions highlight eco-feedback as an effective way to influence behavior, and gamification as a new opportunity to trigger behavioral change. The impact of user behavior is difficult to quantify for methodological reasons. Factors influencing human behavior are numerous and varied. Multi-disciplinary approaches are needed to provide new insights into the inner dynamic nature of occupant’s energy behavior.

The building stock is responsible for 24% of carbon emissions in Switzerland and 44% of the final energy use. Considering that most of the existing stock will still be in place in 2050, it becomes essential to better understand this source of emissions. Although the Swiss Cantonal Energy Certificate for Buildings (CECB) database has been used in previous research, no comprehensive characterization of the buildings can be found. This data paper presents an analysis and classification of the Swiss building stock based on the data found in the database. The objective is to create a knowledge foundation that can be used in future research on the performance of existing buildings. Using a sample of almost 50,000 buildings and a Python script, datasheets were created for single-family houses and multi-family houses for nine construction periods. These archetypes are described through selected available energy-related parameters, such as energy reference area, U-values, and energy source with indicators such as median, 25th percentile, and 75th percentile or distributions. The resulting data can be used for different purposes: (1) to calibrate energy models; (2) for analysis that requires scaling-up strategies to the whole stock; and (3) to identify weak and/or relevant classes of buildings throughout the stock.

This contribution presents a possible use of the Building Information Model (BIM) for the implementation of Building Management Systems (BMS) and proposes tools and methods for each critical step of the process. The resulting designed process enables each building stakeholder to work at an earlier stage on the digital model located on a dedicated server. This paper proposes a novel and integrated approach to building-data management and analyses the main obstacles and limitations that may currently affect the practical implementation.

This study investigates the integration of Building Information Models (BIMs) and Virtual Tour (VT) environments in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, focusing on Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM), Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMSs), and data Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA). The interconnected nature of tasks throughout a building’s life cycle increasingly demands a seamless integration of real-time monitoring, 3D models, and building data technologies. While there are numerous examples of effective links between IoT and BIMs, as well as IoT and VTs, a research gap exists concerning VT-BIM integration. This article presents a technical solution that connects BIMs and IoT data using VTs to enhance workflow efficiency and information transfer. The VT is developed upon a pilot based on the Controlled Environments for Living Lab Studies (CELLS), a unique facility designed for flexible monitoring and remote-control processes that incorporate BIMs and IoT technologies. The findings offer valuable insights into the potential of VTs to complement and connect to BIMs from a life-cycle perspective, improving the usability of digital twins for beginner users and contributing to the advancement of the AEC and CAFM industries. Our technical solution helps complete the connectivity of BIMs-VT-IoT, providing an intuitive interface (VT) for rapid data visualisation and access to dashboards, models and building databases. The practical field of application is facility management, enhancing monitoring and asset management tasks. This includes (a) sensor data monitoring, (b) remote control of connected equipment, and (c) centralised access to asset-space information bridging BIM and visual (photographic/video) data.

Providing users with relevant information raises their awareness on the influence of their behavior on the energy consumption and comfort in their workspace. A user-building interface was developed as part of this research through a co-creation process. It provides the occupants of monitored offices with information on their electricity and heating consumption, comfort indicators (temperature and air quality), light control and hints and tips on how to improve their behavior. This contribution describes the methodology used to improve the behavior of users in a pilot building and the results of a 32-week measurement campaign.