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Conclusion Energy savings arising from patterns on controlling heating boiler appliance. The case study above has demonstrated the impact of their ways of using gas-consuming heating boilers (e.g. duration, intensity and frequency of use) to ensure indoor thermal comfort – on energy consumption. Occupant behaviour regulations can save more energy and lead to better energy efficiency based on the principle of household lifestyle and occupant behaviour. The number of sample households is limited in this study, however, further research with big data analysis approaches to massive databases, and it’s possible in the future to gain more precise insight into residential thermal environment condition and energy consumption patterns. It is possible, with socio-technical analysis, to optimize both house design and occupant appliances usage. Acknowledgements Project 51178238 supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China. Thanks to sample households and Feng Sijie’s contribution in data collection. Thanks to Han Mengzhen for the help in data processing. Notes (1) In the application of a decentralized controlling system with more customized functions, from a socio-technical perspective, households always had their own winter heating demands and had different patterns in controlling heating boiler appliance. The household energy consumptions were different to each other even if all the monitoring households were selected from a community and they have the same physical characteristics such as construction of building envelop or thermal performance. (2) Interrelated analysis of appliance controlling patterns, energy consumption (ENG) and indoor thermal environment (Pcth) had shown that, Households’ percentage of comfort temperature zone hours value was not directly relate to its energy consumption. Even for households with the same percentage of thermal comfort temperature hours, the gas consumptions were different due to lifestyle and appliance controlling. References BECKRE,L. J., SELIGMAN,C., FAZIO,R. H. and DARLEY,J. M.,1981, ‘Relating Attitudes to Residential Energy Use’. Environment and Behavior, 13, pp. 590–609. CHEN, B. and KANG, J.,2010, ‘Low carbon architecture in the UK: research and development from an integrated perspective’, World Architecture, (2), pp.54-59. DECKER, T and MENRAD,K.,2015, ‘House owners’ perceptions and factors influencing their choice of specific heating systems in Germany’. Energy Policy, 85, pp.150–161. HUA,Y., 2003, ‘Heating Ways of City Residential District,’ Beijing City Planning & construction review, (4), pp.78-81. LUTAENHISER, L.,1993, ‘Social and behavioral aspects of energy use’, Annual Review of Energy and Environment, 18,pp. 247–289. Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China, 2010, Design standard for energy efficiency of residential buildings in severe cold and cold zones(JGJ26-2010), Beijing. QIAN, W., LIU, W., YUAN,G. and PIAO,H., 2005, ‘Application Prospect of Wall-mounted Gas Boiler for Individual Heating’, GAS & HEAT, 25(11),pp.39-40. VERHALLEN,T. M. M. and RAAIJ, W. F. V.,1981, ‘Household Behavior and the Use of Natural Gas for Home Heating’. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Dec.), pp. 253–257. ZHENG,X.,WEI,C.,QIN,P., GUO, J., YU,Y., SONG,F. and CHEN, Z.,2014, ‘Characteristics of residential energy consumption in China: Findings from a household survey’, Energy Policy 75, pp.126–135. Household lifestyle and its impacts on energy consumption in Beijing 97