Publications
Ten Questions Concerning Housing Sufficiency
Aldrick Arceo, Marianne Touchie, William O'Brien, Tianzhen Hong, Jeetika Malik, Matan Mayer, Terri Peters, Shoshanna Saxe, Ruth Tamas, Hannah Villeneuve, Benoît Schamltz
Energy and Buildings (under review)
Thermostat Standardization, Technology Trends, Future Considerations: Expert Interviews
Ruth Tamas, William O'Brien, Philip Agee
Energy & Buildings (2024)
Developing Thermostat User Mental Models to Inform Energy-Saving Design
Ruth Tamas, William O'Brien, Mario Santana Quintero
Spring Nature (2023)
Evolving Interaction: A Qualitative Investigation of User Mental Models for Smart Thermostat Users
Ruth Tamas, William O'Brien, Mario Santana Quintero
Architectural Science Review (2023)
Comparative Usability Study Between Two Prototype Commercial Building Thermostat Interfaces
Justin Vezeau, Ruth Tamas, William O'Brien, Philip Agee
Science & Technology for the Built Environment (2023)
A Mixed Methods Approach for Investigating Residential Building Thermostat Interfaces in the Context of Use, Usability, and User Understanding
Ruth Tamas
Carleton University Press (2022)
Residential Thermostat Usability: Comparing Manual, Programmable, and Smart Devices
Ruth Tamas, William O'Brien, Mario Santana Quintero
Building & Environment (2021)
A Field Study on the Effect of Building Automation on Perceived Comfort and Control
Ruth Tamas, Mohamed M. Ouf, William O'Brien
Architectural Science Review (2020)
Usability and Comfort in Canadian Offices: Interview of 170 University Employees
Mohamed M. Ouf, Ruth Tamas, William O'Brien
IOP Conference Series (2019)
Projects
Passive House
Post-Occupancy Evaluation
Six state-of-the-art passive homes finish construction.
What happens next?
Overview
Post-occupancy evaluation can be used to identify and remedy a building’s performance gap.
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Feedback related to system function, occupant satisfaction, and data benchmarking enables developers to make empirically informed decisions and adjustments.
Employing industry standards this bespoke methodology highlights occupant experience and system usability.
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This is an ongoing project with Peel Passive House, Carleton University, and the University of Toronto.
Deliverables
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Research strategy
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Data collection
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Data analysis
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Data dissemination
Sustainable Buildings Canada
Better Condominiums Boot Camp
Toronto's Climate Goals call for significant deep energy retrofits.
How do we streamline development?
Overview
By 2030, the City of Toronto aims to reduce building emissions to net zero.
This requires collaboration between building owners, operators, property managers, tenants, and condominium boards. The Better Condominiums Boot Camp brings these groups together for three workshops to disseminate knowledge and navigate legislation to support successful deep energy retrofits. Redraft is responsible for program evaluation and feedback.
This is an ongoing project with Sustainable Buildings Canada and the City of Toronto.
Deliverables
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Research strategy
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Data collection
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Data analysis
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Data dissemination
Car Cabin Comfort Testing
Evaluating occupant comfort in automobiles.
Delivered to BMW.
Overview
BMW offers customers a luxury automobile experience - not only in terms of automobile mechanics and aesthetics, but also in the subtleties of occupant comfort.
Working with the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics in Munich, Germany, a methodology for comfort evaluation was developed for the client, BMW automobiles. Users were surveyed and feedback was implemented to adjust the interior comfort systems.
Deliverables
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Research strategy
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Product design
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Human factors evaluation
Thermostat standardization:
Expert Opinion
Smart thermostats offer new features and promise energy savings.
Should they be standardized? Experts weigh in.
Overview
Thermostats dictate energy consumption in our built environment. No standards exist to ensure their usability, which frequently results in wasted energy. Moreover, thermostats continue to become more complex as HVAC systems and buildings diversify.
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In a joint project with the National Research Council of Canada and Carleton University, this project delivers scope and priorities for a thermostat standard. Twenty-five experts from public, academic, and private sectors weigh in.
Deliverables
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Research strategy
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Data collection
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Data analysis
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Data dissemination
Thermostat Evaluation & Redesign
Improve thermostat usability to promote energy savings.
Delivered to Carleton University.
Overview
This project sought to investigate and improve thermostat usability for commercial, single-zone thermostats.​​​​​​​
Identify current and setpoint temperatures
Display schedule
Controls are easy to locate
Encourage exploration
Provide immediate feedback
Provide confirmation prompts
Use natural and logical language
Display clear instructions
Enable and support programming
Provide undo button
Redesign
Home Screen
Hold Temperature Time Limit
Supportive Scheduling
Schedule Exploring
Thermostat Usability Investigation
Thermostats control 9% of North America's energy consumption.
How we use them matters.
Objective
Establish and compare the usability of manual, programmable, and smart thermostat interfaces
Process
Conduct participant interviews: Usability testing, participant observation, surveys
Analyse data:
Task duration, interactions, success/failure, user feedback
Produce usability metrics:
Compare manual, programmable, and smart devices
Survey Questions
Demographic information
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Participant-assigned usability score
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Desired thermostat features
Qualitative insights
Usability testing
Interactions per task
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Task duration
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Task success/failure
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Participant confusion
Quantitative usability metrics
Results
User-rated usability
Time to complete usability tasks
Success/failure per task
Thermostat Features
Desirable features
Zone-specific setpoints
More energy use feedback
Remote control
Weak features
Lack of instructions
Lack of feedback
Lack of guidance
Conclusions
Smart thermostats perform better than programable thermostats and offer more features
System status (on/off) most commonly indicated through auditory feedback, not visual feedback
Strong desire for increased visual feedback related to energy consumption and cost
Over half of the participants (51) desired or enjoyed remote thermostat control
