The objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award is to model and support designers' decisions for net-zero energy buildings by applying decision theory and behavioral sciences. This will advance understanding of designers' decision influences that are systematically irrational (defined as unrelated to maximizing utility). The research approach is to: (1) represent the general energy design process used on building projects; (2) characterize the impact of irrationalities on specific high-impact energy decisions by applying methods from decision theory and the behavioral sciences (e.g., adapting seminal studies of bias against change to characterize its influence on selection of innovative building cooling systems); and (3) devise and test prescriptive approaches that address these irrationalities and therefore support designers' decisions for net-zero energy buildings (e.g., measuring how reframing an energy performance goal impacts designers' decisions. The integrated educational approach is to: engage two multidisciplinary teams in the research; and create and deliver an Energy Decisions course as a keystone offering for an energy focus at the Savannah River Environmental Sciences Field Station, a program for underrepresented students from 27 regional institutions.
Buildings use more energy than the entire transportation sector, so progress towards net-zero energy buildings promises tremendous societal benefits including decreased costs and emissions, and increased energy independence. Other broader impacts will occur through the project approach, where engineering Ph.D. students practice leading multidisciplinary teams of undergraduates, who, in turn, acquire research experience. The clear societal relevance of the project topic and multidisciplinary project approach will lead to more well-rounded engineers and broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering. Proactive outreach to the Field Station will also broaden this participation and enable widespread dissemination of the project results beyond traditional academic channels.
