ThermoComfort: Rethinking Campus Comfort and Energy
What is ThermoComfort?
ThermoComfort is a student-centered, web-based feedback tool that allows building occupants to report how they feel—hot, warm, just right, cool, cold—on interactive floor maps of campus buildings. The data is anonymous, timestamped, and can be visualized as real-time comfort trends to spotlight hotspots of discomfort.
By revealing hotspots of discomfort, these insights can help facilities staf adjust thermostat or airflow settings in the room more precisely—enhancing student well-being while reducing energy waste. Inspired by UC Davis’s TherMOOstat, the long-term vision integrates this feedback with occupancy trends and weather data to power smart, adaptive HVAC systems across campus.
Behind the Scenes
The tool was built using HTML, JavaScript, and PHP, and is linked to a firebase database to store datapoints from each feedback. Feedback is being collected through collaborations with the Wisconsin Engineering Student Council and ASM Sustainability. Despite being denied poster permissions, I pivoted through grassroots outreach.
Case Study Inspiration: UC Davis’s TherMOOstat
I am particularly grateful to Alex Frank from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Office of Sustainability for introducing me to TherMOOstat.
ThermoComfort was inspired by TherMOOstat, a participatory thermal sensing project at UC Davis, which has a philosophy: “You’re smarter than a thermostat.”
Students and staff could share real-time comfort data, along with information about clothing and activity level. These user inputs helped their facilities team cross-reference feedback with HVAC performance, resolving issues like poorly placed thermostats and outdated seasonal settings.
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