6.3.4 Occupants

Inputs for occupant loads are specified at the space level (see specification below). In those instances when thermal blocks contain just one space, the inputs here will be identical to the inputs for the single space that is contained within the thermal block.

For those instances when a thermal block contains more than one space, the software shall either model the occupant loads separate for each space and the heat gain for each time step of the analysis or it must incorporate some procedure to sum inputs or calculate weighted averages such that the occupant loads used at the thermal block level are equal to the combination of occupant loads for each of the spaces contained in the thermal block.

When the spaces contained in a thermal block have different occupant schedules, rolling up occupant loads from the space level may be challenging and would have to be done at the level of each time step in the simulation. See discussion above on lighting.