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.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Planning and Public Policy
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Buildings--Energy consumption
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Buildings--Energy conservation
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_6230
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (xvii, 268 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Jennifer A. Senick
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.