Energy Use and Thermal Comfort in the Workplace Jasmine Park 1, Dr. Xiaojing Xu 2, Dr. Chien-fei Chen 2 1 Farragut High School, 2 University of Tennessee, Knoxville This work was supported primarily by the Engineering Research Center Program of the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy under NSF Award Number EEC and the CURENT Industry Partnership Program. Introduction The United States is the world’s second largest energy consuming country, and much of the consumption stems from office buildings where employees lack a financial motive to save energy. In this case, social science approaches become important to promote energy saving behavior in the United States. Thermal ComfortGroup Norms and Culture Adaptations for thermal comfort are split into three categories: physiological (long-term changes or shivering/sweating), behavioral (adding/removing clothing or adjusting AC), and psychological (altered perception/reaction). Not as much present research and literature relating group norms, organizational culture, and thermal comfort. How do group/social factors relate to preferred control method and adaptive thermal comfort in the workplace? Methods Interviews Surveys A notice was sent out to Min Kao building occupants, informing them of the opportunity. Each interview lasted about minutes. The questions covered topics such as control of building features, comfort levels, ways to adapt to different thermal conditions, communications with colleagues about comfort and energy savings, and organizational culture on energy saving. 13 interviews were conducted and recorded, notes were taken during each session and recordings were later transcribed. Online surveys were created through Qualtrics and distributed across the country via Amazon MTurk. The surveys featured the same questions asked in the interviews. 256 participants; 52.2% male, 47.5% female; 75% white, 9.8% Asian, 7% black or African American. Results were later analyzed using IBM SPSS 21. Results and Discussion People who preferred manual control (M = 1.88, SD = 1.18) and people who preferred automated control (M = 2.38, SD = 1.18); t(191) = -2.94, p =.004, differed in terms of how easily they adapted to warm temperatures. Those who adapted easily tended to prefer automated control. Those who said they were willing to save energy at the expense of comfort tended to:  feel they were generally very energy conscious  believe it was a good thing to reduce e  nergy usage at work  think the majority of their colleagues supported the idea of improving energy efficiency and actively saved energy  work in organizations that encourage saving energy. To adapt to coldness, 84.8% of participants used zero-energy methods, such as wearing more layers. However, to adapt to hotness, only 42.8% used zero-energy methods. And the choices were not affected by any organizational or psychological factors. Would you be willing to save energy at work if it means you would feel a little bit less comfortable? Do you prefer manual control or automated control? “I think that automated temperature controls are more effective at promoting energy efficiency.” Ways to adapt to hot and cold temperatures at work? “Because it's a small price to pay for saving energy, which is a good thing.”