Modeling the effect of occupants' behavior on household carbon emissions

Occupants’ behavior has proven its significant impact on buildings performance. The research on carbon emissions has therefore recommended the integration of the technical and behavioral disciplines in order to accurately predict buildings carbon emissions. While various models were developed that consider the actions of occupants based on quantitative data, there are little efforts that link the impact of occupants’ behavior on selected energy strategies while also consider the economic, technological, and environmental impacts. For this research, a dynamic model will be developed to simulate the interaction of occupants’ behavior with various energy efficient scenarios to reduce carbon emissions. The model will help test the effectiveness of certain energy efficient scenarios before implementation. This paper illustrates the structure and the application of the proposed model. The model results show that the behavioral change can contribute enormously to the carbon emissions reduction even without the installation of more energy efficient improvements