Longitudinal dataset of human-building interactions in U.S. offices

Adaptive interactions between building occupants and their surrounding environments affect both energy use and environmental quality, as demonstrated by a large body of modeling research that quantifies the impacts of occupant behavior on building operations. Yet, available occupant field data are insufficient to explore the mechanisms that drive this interaction. This paper introduces data from a one year study of 24 U.S. office occupants that recorded a comprehensive set of possible exogenous and endogenous drivers of personal comfort and behavior over time. The longitudinal data collection protocol merges individual thermal comfort, preference, and behavior information from online daily surveys with datalogger readings of occupants’ local thermal environments and control states, yielding 2503 survey responses alongside tens of thousands of concurrent behavior and environment measurements. These data have been used to uncover links between the built environment, personal variables, and adaptive actions, and the data contribute to international research collaborations focused on understanding the human-building interaction.