Can occupant voting systems provide energy savings and improved occupant satisfaction in buildings?-a review

Occupant voting system(s) (OVS) are digital tools used to collect continuous and real-time feedback on occupants' perception of and desired changes to the indoor environmental quality. Occupant feedback acquired with OVS is typically used together with indoor environmental measurements for room temperature control. Additionally, OVS has been used to collect occupant satisfaction data for post-occupancy evaluation and complaint data used in fault detection and diagnostic of building operation. The present paper presents a review of sixty scientific publications on research studies using tools denoted as OVS. The review identified a median energy saving of 22% and a median improvement in occupant satisfaction of 34% for the reviewed OVS studies. Across the reviewed studies, a single occupant voted on average one vote per day. The review suggests that the studies using OVS interfaces that were easier to use by the occupants, such as wearable devices, obtained a higher voting frequency than OVS interfaces accessed via websites. Moreover, the review identified that the study design, such as the duration and number of participants or whether energy savings were estimated using simulation or measurement, affected the voting frequency and the obtained energy savings.