Non-Interventional Precise TC Assessment for Enhancing Consumer Energy Flexibility

Abstract

Thermal comfort (TC) serves as a key measure of how an individual feels about the temperature in an indoor environment, and it is influenced by a combination of physiological and environmental factors. Therefore, people can have different perceptions of the temperature within the same indoor space. An accurate and timely assessment of an individual’s TC can lead to benefits such as increased energy flexibility, improved energy efficiency, and reduced energy costs. This paper showcases the accurate TC assessment within indoor environments utilizing a wrist-worn wearable device that has been developed to continuously capture in a non-interventional manner the environmental conditions and the human biological indicators that affect the individual’s TC. The Heart Rate Variability (HRV) biological indicator has been employed for the validation of TC outcomes while the accuracy and the reliability of the device’s TC outcomes is based on the consistency with the existing research literature.