A case study on exploring energy user needs toward design for building energy saving

In this paper, energy user needs are explored via the new user research method combining generative tools and focus group interview toward design for building energy saving. A number of needs for building energy reduction are extracted, and the needs tree is generated by classifying and structuring them. They can be classified into behavioral needs and solution needs in the highest level. The behavioral needs can further be decomposed into those in internal context and external context according to the motivations to generate them. The solution needs can be composed of those related with physical environment, regulation, and individual mindset. The E3 (economical, ecological, and experience) value framework is also introduced to classify extracted needs. When particularly considering energy users' experience values, it is demonstrated that those associated with rule (extrinsic social), reluctance/willingness (active emotional), contentment (reactive emotional), habit (intrinsic social) and knowledge (epistemic) values mostly occur. The results can provide the basis for designing and changing energy users' activities for effective provision of service for building energy saving.