About 40% of all the energy consumed by buildings is used to provide thermal comfort to the occupants. However, sometimes rooms are heated when they are unoccupied or already warm enough, and vice versa for cooling. Thermal comfort is a range, not a fixed point. It can be managed across many rooms to minimize the cost of electricity while meeting occupants’ needs. Minimizing daily electricity costs requires sensitizing rooms to measure their thermal characteristics, determining their current and future occupancy, and predicting future electricity prices.

This seminar considers the business model, systems, and technology required to offer Thermal Comfort as a Service. This project is funded by the University of Nuremberg’s Schöller Foundation and supported by the University’s Energiecampus (EnCN) and cenero.one, an energy informatics firm in Leipzig. This work extends Aghniaey, S., et al. (2018). Optimizing thermal comfort considerations with electrical demand response program implementation. Building Services Engineering Research and Technology 39(2).

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With Prof. Richard T. Watson

Richard T. Watson is the Research Director of Digital Frontier Partners, and Regents Professor and the J. Rex Fuqua Distinguished Chair for Internet Strategy Emeritus of the University of Georgia. He is a former President of the Association for Information Systems and was awarded its highest honour, a LEO, for his achievements in information systems. For about a decade, he was Research Director for the Advanced Practices Council of the Society of Information Management and a visiting researcher at the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE). Professor Watson has published over 200 journal articles and written books on electronic commerce, data management, and energy informatics. His most recent book is Capital, Systems, and Objects. His work has been accepted by leading academic and practitioner journals and has been translated into several languages. Dr. Watson has given over 300 invited presentations to practitioners and academics in more than 30 countries, including conference keynotes on six continents. He was educated at the University of Western Australia (BSc, Dip. Comp), Monash University (MBA), and the University of Minnesota (PhD). He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Liechtenstein in 2021.

Prof Watson has a longstanding affiliation with QUT, stretching over 20 years. He has worked with QUT scholars on many research projects and co-launched CFE’s Global Leaders Series, a public webinar program showcasing globally esteemed academics.

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This event is jointly presented by QUT’s Centre for Future Enterprise and QUT's Energy Transition Centre.