Occupant-centric building controls

Occupant-centric building controls or Occupant-centric controls (OCC) is a control strategy for the indoor environment, that specifically focuses on meeting the current needs of building occupants while decreasing building energy consumption. OCC can be used to control lighting and appliances, but is most commonly used to control heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).[1] OCC use real-time data collected on indoor environmental conditions, occupant presence and occupant preferences as inputs to energy system control strategies.[2] By responding to real-time inputs, OCC is able to flexibly provide the proper level of energy services, such as heating and cooling, when and where it is needed by occupants.[3] Ensuring that building energy services are provided in the right quantity is intended to improve occupant comfort while providing these services only at the right time and in the right location is intended to reduce overall energy use.

In contrast to OCC, conventional building control strategies, known as Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS), typically use predetermined temperature setpoints and setback schedules.[1] These temperatures and temperature schedules are often determined by industry standards with no input from the building occupants. Conventional BEMS typically have static operation parameters that give minimal flexibility to meet the changing needs of building occupants throughout the day, the changing needs of new building tenants, or the diverse thermal needs of any given group of building occupants.[2]

The American Society for Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers has outlined that thermal comfort of occupants is influenced both by environmental conditions such as radiative heat, humidity, air speed and season as well as personal factors such as physiology, clothing worn and activity level.[4] This dynamic and personalized nature of thermal comfort has traditionally made it complex it integrate into HVAC controls but an increase in sensing and computing capabilities along with a decrease in sensing and computing costs has made it possible for OCC to be an effective and scalable means of controlling building energy systems.[1] With buildings consuming over 33% of global energy, and producing almost 40% of CO2 emissions, OCC could play a significant role in reducing global energy consumption and CO2 emissions.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Naylor, Sophie; Gillott, Mark; Lau, Tom (November 2018). "A review of occupant-centric building control strategies to reduce building energy use". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 96: 1–10. Bibcode:2018RSERv..96....1N. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2018.07.019. ISSN 1364-0321. S2CID 115839796.
  2. ^ a b O'Brien, William; Wagner, Andreas; Schweiker, Marcel; Mahdavi, Ardeshir; Day, Julia; Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun; Carlucci, Salvatore; Dong, Bing; Tahmasebi, Farhang; Yan, Da; Hong, Tianzhen (2020-07-01). "Introducing IEA EBC annex 79: Key challenges and opportunities in the field of occupant-centric building design and operation". Building and Environment. 178: 106738. Bibcode:2020BuEnv.17806738O. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106738. ISSN 0360-1323. S2CID 218952231.
  3. ^ Langevin, Jared. "Occupant-Centric Building Controls: Assessing Potential Energy Impacts at Scale" (PDF).
  4. ^ "ASHRAE Standard 55" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Buildings – Topics". IEA. Retrieved 2021-12-12.