Numerous higher education (HE) institutions in the United States (US) have created sustainability agendas, including construction of sustainable buildings. More than 200 US HE institutions, have at least one Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building on their campus (Princeton Review 2012). With the growing student population and need to house them, residence hall construction is rising nationwide. A profile of newly constructed building types shows residence halls hold the largest median area (Princeton Review 2012). In an effort to assess if sustainable residence halls are performing sustainably, a series of post occupancy evaluation (POE) indicators were selected. POE indicators were chosen through a review of widely adopted sustainability rating systems, scientific literature and student occupant feedback. The selected indicators address a range of parameters including: water and energy consumption, occupant thermal comfort, occupant consumption behavior and education, noise insulation (indoor and outdoor), and Facilities Management (FM) operational feedback. Furthermore, specific indicators such as building energy management systems (BEMS), building automation control systems (BACS) and artificial intelligence (AI) agents were examined. The proposed POE indicator framework data was collected from various key stakeholders including: designers, HE FM departments, residential life personnel, and student occupants. The dataset includes: actual temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) measurements of a LEED-Gold residence hall, actual water (9 residence halls) and energy consumption (4 residence halls) data, and feedback from designers, HE FM departments and 593 student occupants (LEED and non-LEED residence halls). The proposed POE indicator framework triangulates quantitative and qualitative data, via investigative and diagnostic techniques; creating a comprehensive building performance picture, vis-à-vis technical and non-technical parameters.

Creator

• Alborz, Nakisa

Contributors

• Berardi, Umberto

Degree

• PhD

Unit

• Civil & Environmental Engineering

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Language

• English

Identifier

• etd-072814-174326

Keyword

• Sustainable Performance Indicators
• Sustainability Rating Systems
• Post Occupancy Evaluation
• Residence Hall Water Consumption Tendencies
• Occupant Thermal Comfort Parameters
• LEED
• Water and Energy Benchmarking
• Residence Halls
• Student Occupant Feedback Techniques

Advisor

• Berardi, Umberto

Defense date

• 2014-05-09

Year

• 2014

Date created

• 2014-07-28

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright