Genie: A Longitudinal Study Comparing Physical and Software-augmented Thermostats in Office Buildings

TL;DR

This study introduces Genie, a software-augmented thermostat, and evaluates its long-term deployment in an office setting, showing it improves occupant comfort and energy awareness without increasing energy use.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel software thermostat, Genie, and provides a comprehensive longitudinal study of its deployment and effects in real office environments.

Findings

Wider thermal control does not lead to system abuse.

Energy consumption remains stable despite increased user control.

User comfort and energy awareness improve with Genie deployment.

Abstract

Thermostats are primary interfaces for occupants of office buildings to express their comfort preferences. However, standard thermostats are often ineffective due to inaccessibility, lack of information, or limited responsiveness, leading to occupant discomfort. Software thermostats based on web or smartphone applications provide alternative interfaces to occupants with minimal deployment cost. However, their usage and effectiveness have not been studied extensively in real settings. In this paper we present Genie, a novel software-augmented thermostat that we deployed and studied at our university over a period of 21 months. Our data shows that providing wider thermal control to users does not lead to system abuse and that the effect on energy consumption is minimal while improving comfort and energy awareness. We believe that increased introduction of software thermostats in office buildings will have important effects on comfort and energy consumption and we provide key design recommendations for their implementation and deployment.