An analysis of occupants response to thermal discomfort in green and conventional buildings in New Zealand

•Green building occupants practiced less environmental adjustments.•Green building occupants practiced more personal and psychological adjustments.•Green buildings design encourage energy saving behaviour.

Studies have found high discomfort issues in green buildings where occupants find it too cold during the winter and too hot during the summer. Green buildings are highly climate responsive since they are usually dependent upon natural ventilation and natural daylight. In conventional buildings, occupants are not so dependent on the building design to moderate temperature and lighting. This paper investigates occupants responses to discomfort in conventional and green buildings to better understand how they behave, and whether they behave differently. This study examines what people do when they are too hot or too cold. Three coping mechanism were tested (i) environmental adjustment, (ii) personal adjustment and (iii) psychological adjustment. Results in this paper showed that in response to being cold, occupants in green buildings engaged more in personal adjustments, less environmental adjustment, and more in psychological adjustment compared to conventional buildings. While in response to being hot, these coping mechanisms were less apparent. The paper examines what adjustments people make when they are too hot or too cold, and compares these behaviours in different building types.