RISCO, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
CERIS, Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and GeoResources, IST-University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2018 Jul;25(20):19217-19227. doi: 10.1007/s11356-017-8897-5. Epub 2017 Apr 4.
During the last decades, achieving water efficiency in buildings has increasingly become an important challenge in the scope of sustainability. Water consumption is directly related to individual conduct. Despite the various technological improvements in fixtures and appliances, their performance will be influenced by human preferences and behavior. As a result, the potential for effective water consumption saving is influenced by behavior change as well as water-efficient fixtures and appliances. This work evaluates the impact of user preferences and behavior change on the water-efficient performance of tap aerators in a case study building: the Department of Civil Engineering building of the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Four aerators with different discharge reductions and types were installed in the toilet's washbasins and the user's preferences and behavior change measured through direct and online questionnaires. It was observed that the effective water consumption reduction (15 to 49%) was less than the discharge reduction (30 to 70%), confirming that user factors influence water savings. Water use reductions in the tested range (2.0 to 6.7 l/min) also varied according to gender, with male users using less water than their female counterparts. It was noted that an awareness of sustainability values prevailed amongst the users when confronted with the choice between comfort and water efficiency, although differences were observed in the user preferences regarding the various aerators. When confronted with the information that the lower discharge aerator would contribute to a reduction of about 70% on the water discharge, 25% of the users agreed with its use, even if it resulted in a certain degree of dissatisfaction. In comparison, only 8% of the users completely disagreed with its installation. On average, the water consumption reduction was 46% smaller than the discharge reduction achievable with the aerator alone. This further confirms the user factors inform the degree of water savings that is achievable from water-efficient fittings and fixtures.
在过去的几十年中，在可持续性范围内实现建筑物的用水效率已成为一个重要挑战。水的消耗与个人行为直接相关。尽管固定装置和器具的各种技术改进，但它们的性能将受到个人偏好和行为的影响。因此，有效节约用水的潜力不仅取决于水效固定装置和器具，还取决于行为的改变。本研究通过案例研究评估了用户偏好和行为改变对水龙头空气混入器水效性能的影响：葡萄牙阿威罗大学土木工程系大楼。在厕所的洗脸盆中安装了四个具有不同流量减少和类型的空气混入器，并通过直接和在线问卷调查来测量用户的偏好和行为改变。结果表明，有效用水量的减少（15%至 49%）小于流量的减少（30%至 70%），这证实了用户因素会影响节水效果。在测试范围内（2.0 至 6.7 l/min）的用水量减少也因性别而异，男性用户的用水量比女性用户少。当面对舒适和水效之间的选择时，使用者普遍意识到可持续性价值观的重要性，尽管他们对各种空气混入器的偏好存在差异。当面对使用低流量空气混入器可将水流量减少约 70%的信息时，25%的用户同意使用它，即使这会导致一定程度的不满。相比之下，只有 8%的用户完全不同意安装它。平均而言，水消耗的减少比空气混入器单独可实现的流量减少小 46%。这进一步证实了用户因素决定了从水效固定装置和器具中可实现的节水程度。
