Investigating the relation between built area, occupant number and energy consumption in first modern residential buildings (Case study: 1970s houses in the semi-arid climate of Shiraz, Iran)

Energy consumption in the residential sector is a complex socio-technical problem that can be explained using a combination of physical, demographic and behavioural characteristics of a house and its occupants. In this paper, by using the energy consumption data for the residential sector of Shiraz in Iran, the effect of built area (BA) and occupant number (Occ) on annual energy consumption (Ec) was investigated. Ten houses from the first modern period of the city were selected randomly from 1971 up to 1991. It was found that the built area and Occ did not have a direct impact on energy consumption in Shiraz’s residential buildings; however, the household behaviours and houses’ building construction directly affected energy saving. Houses with maximum BA or maximum annual energy consumption were not the same; the same held for Occ. The average annual energy consumption per capita of 1 m^2 built area of the case studies was 0.087, and for each occupant it was 2.487.