A cross comparison between different methods measuring environmental parameters for occupant window behaviour

When studying occupant window behaviour in buildings, the measurement of environmental factors often requires dedicated measuring equipment. Currently, there is no universally accepted methods for the measurement, and in particular the location of sensors. Therefore, researchers more often select the one they are most familiar with, which reduces the comparability of the collected data for different studies. This study, therefore, has carried out a comprehensive review on the existing methods used to measure significant environmental factors, such as indoor and outdoor temperatures, occupant window operation, and relevant adaptive behaviour. The study repeated different methods to measure both indoor temperature and outdoor temperatures in a case study and compared different environmental factors. From the analysis, it was found that the differences due to various indoor measurement methods was not quite significant, although there were obvious deviations from the reference value. Some environmental factors, such as solar gain and window opening, had greater influences and created larger differences. For outdoor measurement, the distance between the location of measured data to the case study building seemed to have significant impact. To make use of different behavioural studies as shared data base, it is recommended to develop a comprehensive standard methodology for measuring environmental factors.