Challenges and opportunities of occupant-centric building controls in real-world implementation: A critical review
Atiye Soleimanijavid, Iason Konstantzos, Xiaoqi Liu
Abstract
Over the past few decades, attention in buildings’ design and operation has gradually shifted from promoting only energy efficiency objectives to also addressing human comfort and well-being. Researchers have developed a wide range of control algorithms ranging from rule-based controls to complex learning approaches that can fully capture occupants’ personalized preferences in smart buildings. This direction of occupant-centric building controls can bridge the gap between occupants’ satisfaction and sustainability objectives. However, most of these promising technologies have not yet found their way into real-world applications. This study will perform a critical review on occupant-centric thermal and lighting control studies aiming to (i) analyze the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches; (ii) identify the requirements for these techniques to be implemented in real-world systems; and (iii) propose new research directions that will promote the usability of such controls and will be a catalyst towards their wide adoption. Computational complexity, integration with Building Automation Systems (BAS), data availability and data quality, scalability, and the lack of more research featuring actual building implementation emerge as critical barriers. Addressing these challenges is imperative for the successful deployment of occupant-centric controls in real-world applications.