The past decade has seen a paradigm shift in advanced control and user interfaces for thermostats in residential and commercial buildings, which presents both opportunities and challenges for energy savings. Thermostats are now more often networked and embedded devices, as part of the Internet of Things, and thus considered “smart”. These advanced thermostats enable demand response and use of heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment as distributed energy resources (DERs) towards a more resilient and effective utility grid. Different thermostat interfaces may be used for specialized audiences such as seniors, people of low income, or schools. Networked thermostats allow multiple building systems to interoperate, such as whole-building energy metering and ceiling fans, in order to optimize comfort and energy savings. Thermostats may control ventilation as well, which may play a role in improving air quality and reducing potential infectious diseases such as Covid-19. This Special Issue will deal with novel user interfaces, optimization, and control techniques of advanced thermostats for energy savings in residential and commercial buildings. Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to: Advanced or specialized thermostat user interfaces; Usability studies; Feedback for improved energy savings; Advanced thermostat designs for specialized audiences, such as low-income or disadvantaged communities; Advanced control and machine learning algorithms that reduce energy; Data fusion and social data mining for designing advanced connected thermostat functions; Commercial building energy management; Enabling HVAC as DER; Demand response (DR) and grid responsiveness; Networked thermostats integrated with other systems (e.g., ceiling fans) for energy savings; Improved thermal comfort and energy savings optimization; Advanced ventilation strategies.
Keywords: energy efficiency; demand response; grid interactive buildings; usability; community microgrid.