The New Buildings Institute and Ecotope, Inc. recently found that poor operations and maintenance practices can increase the projected energy use by more than 50% in some climates. Though the maintenance operations were classified as poor, they were by no means atypical. Most interestingly, these researchers also found that occupant behaviour can increase the predicted energy use of a building by 80%.

While it has been long known that actual energy performance often differs from predicted energy performance of buildings, this data shows just how much difference can result from occupant behaviour and maintenance.

For more information on this research visit GreenSource’s latest issue.