Why energy-saving measures in commercial office buildings fail: deep versus shallow use structures

Buildings consume large amounts of energy and other natural resources. The green building movement is a response to associated impacts; however the failure of these buildings to perform as intended is a persistent challenge. This is most apparent regarding energy use, which has continued to grow despite decades of public policy and investment to the contrary. In this dissertation, I demonstrate that underperformance is linked to poor usability and that building-level Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) often are misaligned with the functions and use structures they are meant to support. In particular, I conclude that: 1) the social nature of workplace-based lighting and HVAC energy measures is not well understood by designers who conceptualize their use structures as narrow and shallow, when they are wide and deep; 2) innovation in energy-saving technologies has not kept pace with popular workplace organizational contexts – e.g., flex time, telecommuting and collaborative/activity-based design; and 3) the organizational implications of the convergence of advanced energy conservation technologies and IT is only beginning to become clear to adopting organizations, who have not implemented organizational protocols that empower decentralized users. These usability shortcomings in turn negatively impact the case for greater diffusion of workplace-based energy conservation measures.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Jennifer A. Senic