Low-Carbon Comfort Management for Smart Buildings

We present critical research challenges for the development of smart building management systems (BMS) to achieve low-carbon comfort. To date, work in this area has focused on optimising single-scope aspects of building resources, such as energy usage or thermal comfort, but there is a recent shift toward BMS design that could simultaneously address many aspects of building resources and comfort dimensions for occupants, such as air quality, temperature, humidity, audible noise levels, and related automated safety features. In this paper, we discuss four research directions highlighting current challenges in this domain that present opportunities for research: (A) data limitations for machine learning, (B) multiple definitions of comfort, (C) BMS usability and interfaces, and (D) safety and security of automated BMS decision-making. Addressing these challenges will enable the development of advanced human-centred energy-saving buildings that meet the needs of occupants.