TherMOOstat

example of TherMOOstat's home page

TherMOOstat is a custom tool for UC Davis students, staff, and faculty to send us feedback on how they think a space feels: hot, warm, comfy, chilly, or cold. We built TherMOOstat so you can let us know how you think the rooms feel on campus. You can use TherMOOstat for any building on the main campus whenever you feel comfortable or uncomfortable, and as often as you'd like. With the comfort feedback you're sending us, we're crowdsourcing indoor comfort and giving everyone the opportunity to contribute to comfort and energy savings.

You're Smarter Than a Thermostat

We say you’re smarter than a thermostat because we know comfort varies from person to person, and room temperature control shouldn’t solely rely on the thermostat on the wall.

students wearing TherMOOstat t-shirts featuring Joules the Cow

Who Is Reading Your Feedback

If you've ever used TherMOOstat, you're familiar with the friendly face of Joules the Cow. But behind the scenes of our beloved Joules is a dynamic team reading and investigating all of your TherMOOstat submissions. 

This team is made up of UC Davis staff members, dedicated to comfort and energy conservation on campus. They read each and every one of your TherMOOstat submissions, and verify them against buildings’ heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. In busy months, we verify over 300 TherMOOstat submissions!

two colleagues working together at a computer
a UCD staff member looking at the building automation system

What We Do With Your Feedback

We cross reference each submission with the building’s HVAC system and verify the system is functioning properly. Then we analyze your collective feedback looking for long-term trends in comfort and energy efficiency. 

With the data from TherMOOstat, we’re trying to pinpoint chronically hot or cold rooms and buildings on campus. In addition addressing to comfort issues, there may be opportunities for energy savings.
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UCD staff wearing a thermoostat t-shirt

How We Can Help Using Your Feedback

With over two years of looking into your TherMOOstat feedback, we’ve found at lot of poorly located thermostats. Like a thermostat found behind a computer monitor and getting inaccurately hot readings! When a thermostat is located next to a heat source, the thermostat will think the room is a different temperature than it actually is and try to cool down the room.

Other issues we’ve corrected are summer thermostat set points that are still in effect during the winter season, inconsistencies between the room use and the HVAC programming, and helping people locate and learn to use their thermostats.
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TherMOOstat is a tool you can use on your own campus.

While TherMOOstat is a tool custom to UC Davis, the concept of participatory thermal sensing can be applied at any university campus. We've given countless presentations and TherMOOstat has received several awards over the years. In 2018, we received a grant from UCOP to create a toolkit to help you determine the resources, branding, and triage needed to implement a participatory thermal sensing program on your campus.
Learn more Value of TherMOOstat

TherMOOstat Presentations

Transforming Occupants into a Low-Cost & High-Accuracy Sensor System, CHESC 2016

Occupant Feedback to Improve Comfort & Efficiency on a University Campus, ACEEE 2016

Crowdsourcing Energy Efficiency Through Thermal Feedback, Green California Summit 2017

TherMOOstat Awards

Honorable Mention in Sustainability Innovations at CHESC, 2017

Carbon Neutrality Initiative Grant from UC Office of the President, 2018

Effective Innovation & Practices Award from APPA, 2019

TherMOOstat Publications

Pritoni, M., Salmon, K., Sanguinetti, A., Morejohn, J., & Modera, M. (2017). Occupant thermal feedback for improved efficiency in university buildings. Energy and Buildings, 144, 241-250.

Sanguinetti, A., Pritoni, M., Salmon, K., Meier, A., & Morejohn, J. (2017). Upscaling participatory thermal sensing: Lessons from an interdisciplinary case study at University of California for improving campus efficiency and comfort. Energy Research & Social Science.

Sanguinetti, A., Pritoni, M., Salmon, K., Morejohn, J., & Modera, M. Using occupant feedback to drive energy efficiency across an entire university campus. In Proceedings of American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy 2016 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings.