July 20, 2016
Apparel, textiles, and interior design professor invited to join International Energy Agency working group, attends symposium and biannual meeting
Julia Day, assistant professor of apparel, textiles, and interior design, attended the Third Expert Meeting of the International Energy Agency Energy in Buildings and Communities Program Symposium: Annex 66 earlier this year. Day was invited to join with the working group after a paper publication was favorably received. The group consists of renowned architects, engineers and social scientists and is focused on defining and simulating occupant behaviors to increase energy efficiency in buildings.
Day is writing and co-authoring two chapters in the Occupant Monitoring Guidelines and is involved in three of five subtasks of the IEA EBC Annex 66 group, including:
- Task A: simulating occupant movement and presence to provide a standard definition and simulation methodology;
- Task B: modeling occupant action in residential buildings and how such action affects building performance; and
- Task E: providing case studies to demonstrate applications of occupant behavior definitions and models for building designers, energy savings evaluators, building operators and energy policymakers.
The working group's project has attracted participation from 27 organizations, including universities, research institutes, software companies, design consultancies, operations managers and systems control companies from 24 countries. Day and colleagues are wrapping up working phase plans soon, and the reporting phase of the project will commence in December 2016 and last through June 2017. Day also will attend the next working meeting Aug. 3-5 in Ottawa, Canada.
Day started the Energy, Behavior and Built Environment Laboratory in the College of Human Ecology, and also is the director of the Energy Efficiency and Human Behavior Program at the Institute of Environmental Research at K-State. Her research focuses on occupant education, behaviors and energy use in high-performance buildings. Participating in the working group has helped her build connections and collaborations in her field.
"I am so fortunate to be involved with this international and interdisciplinary group; we are all passionate about making a difference and better understanding how we can make buildings — and people — more energy efficient," Day said.
Day also attended a National Science Foundation workshop in conjunction with the working group meeting. The workshop focused on energy and comfort-related research and case studies on monitoring, modeling and manipulating occupants' behavior.
Day's travel to Vienna was supported by a Faculty Development Award from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs in fall 2015.