Do Occupants in Green Buildings Practice Better Energy Saving Behaviour in Computer Usage Than Occupants in Conventional Buildings?

Green buildings are not entirely successful in achieving energy saving targets. One way of improving energy targets is to encourage occupants to adopt energy saving behaviour. To date, energy saving behaviour has been given less focus in improving green building performance than other energy saving initiatives, such as retrofitting buildings for green features. This study uses comparison case studies between green buildings and conventional buildings in New Zealand to better understand the energy saving behaviour of occupants. Questionnaires were distributed to occupants in green and conventional buildings to evaluate the extent of energy saving behaviour practiced and to identify potential strategies to encourage energy saving behaviour. The objective of this paper is to investigate the level of energy saving behaviour between green and conventional office buildings to see if people in green buildings perform better energy saving behaviour than people in conventional buildings in computer usage. The findings do show better energy saving behaviour from occupants in green buildings than occupants in conventional buildings. The paper shows why this is the case. The recommended strategies to encourage energy saving behaviour used by different buildings are also discussed. Strategies include raising education awareness on energy efficiency among the building occupants, energy saving commitments, and to have an active building manager assigned for energy related matters.