Ergonomics of the indoor environment
In line with the chair's vision to foster energy efficiency and sustainability in construction and operation of buildings as well as a responsible use of resources, our research and teaching contributes to energy efficiency and resource-saving future-oriented buildings that offer people a healthy and comfortable environment.
Research questions and problem solutions are developed starting from the human being, who is the focus of attention, as well as his healthy and comfortable stay in the indoor environment. In addition to technical developments, the focus is on human behavior, since it is the basis for energy consumption-relevant behaviors and decisions. Interfaces to societal, social, and economic aspects are addressed starting from this human point of view.
One main topic within indoor environmental quality is the investigation of local and personalized climatization. Based on local and global thermophysiological comfort models, we develop control strategies for these systems based on machine learning. Despite individualization, we want to restrict the need for personal and privacy related user data as much as possible. Disciplinarily and methodologically, we strive for a broad approach tailored to the research objective. Besides surveys and field research, we use sophisticated climates test room, which allow for a precise and multimodal variation of the indoor environmental conditions (https://www.uel4-0.de/). Using field studies, user discourse, and cooperation projects we strive to maintain scientific experience but also a close connection to the general public.