Rating intelligent buildings: Occupants' assessment of HVAC control system's intelligence.

摘要

Buildings are designed to provide their occupants with the environment they desire. Systems, such as telecommunications, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), fire and security, and lighting are installed in buildings to serve this purpose. The evaluation of these systems should not only be based on their presence in a building, but also on their contribution to the satisfaction of occupants. These systems' contribution to occupants' satisfaction is used as a measure of these systems' intelligence and consequently, the overall level of intelligence of the building. These are issues that have to be considered in measuring a building's intelligence.; In order for these issues to be identified and addressed, the proper definition for an intelligent building (IB) has to be researched. IB can be evaluated from different perspectives. Buildings' owners have different criteria for measuring buildings' levels of intelligence compared with occupants. Cost is a concern to buildings' owners but not to occupants whose main concern is comfort.; In this study a definition for IB, from the occupants' perspective, is established. Evaluation of all systems installed in a building may be difficult and demands a huge amount of information. Hence, this study is limited to measuring intelligence in HVAC control systems only.; The buildings used in this study are located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data regarding their occupants' perceived levels of comfort and the types of HVAC control they possess in their workplaces are collected to be used for this study.; Two methods are used for the analysis to rate buildings based on their occupants' responses. Factor Analysis using principal components is used to measure the "latent" intelligence of buildings. The other method is the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which is used to rank buildings. Both methods are presented and discussed in this study. The results of the two methods when compared show the same ranking of the buildings surveyed. Buildings surveyed are similar in function, type of construction, climate, and type of HVAC. However, they vary in the number of zones for climate control. Some of the buildings have control devices in more offices than others, which gives them a higher intelligence rating. The results of the study reflect this fact; hence believed to be useful.