Helen Stopps

• Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University

Pressurized corridor (PC) ventilation systems are a common method used in existing multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) to deliver make-up air to individual units, and as a means of controlling inter-zonal odour/contaminant transfer. In PC systems, ventilation air is supplied directly to the common corridor and enters the units via intentional...

Occupant-Centric Control and Operation (OCC) represents a transformative approach to building management, integrating sensing of indoor environmental quality, occupant presence, and occupant-building interactions. These data are then utilized to optimize both operational efficiency and occupant comfort. This paper summarizes the findings from the I...

When implementing or studying building controls and interfaces in the field, researchers often witness first-hand human-building interactions from operators and occupants. While current comfort and occupant behavior models are able to explain some of these interactions, many fall under the fields of psychology, sociology and other humanities, which...

As the proportion of the population who resides in urban centers grows, the number of dwellings in high-rise residential buildings is also increasing. In Canada, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) typically accounts for over half of all energy use in this building type and, as such, consideration of these loads is key to effective en...

The need to renovate high-rise residential buildings to maintain or improve indoor environmental conditions and reduce energy use is becoming prevalent worldwide. Climate change concerns have driven the development of policies, regulations, and standards for building renovation; however, these standards are often narrowly focussed on energy use and...

Connected thermostat data provide new opportunities to access heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) operation and indoor condition data in high-rise residential buildings. However, how well these thermostat data reflect actual conditions and operation is unclear and best-practices to leverage these data for energy use modelling are neede...

While occupancy-based control and other demand management control strategies have demonstrated potential, little is known about how these changes in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control impacts occupants’ perception of the thermal conditions in their home. In this paper, occupants’ thermal comfort perceptions and use of thermos...

Smart home technologies are becoming prevalent in residential buildings. Despite interface and control improvements offered by smart thermostats, previous work has found energy savings from this technology to be variable. Further, little is known about how smart thermostat operation differs from conventional programmable thermostat operation, which...

Due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, it has become increasingly important and necessary to conduct research and teaching activities online. While many universities quickly started the transition to online teaching, most in‐person research activities were typically postponed. However, in order to not significantly delay research, researchers are increasing...

Smart home technologies have long been envisioned as a mainstay in future residential buildings; however, residential smart home technologies have fallen short of expectations. Generally referred to by the literature as occupant-centric controls (OCC), a subset of these technologies focus on sensing and/or managing systems based on occupant feedbac...

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) operation is the largest contributor to residential building energy use and can significantly influence occupant thermal comfort and behaviours. Despite the boom in high-rise residential building construction, little is known about the relationship between occupant comfort and behaviors and HVAC oper...

Previous studies in single family homes have demonstrated a reduction in space conditioning energy demand through the use of occupancy-controlled smart thermostats. This technology has the potential to reduce space conditioning demand in multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) as well, however no previous studies have tested the performance of sma...

Previous studies in single family homes have demonstrated a reduction in space conditioning energy demand through the use of occupancy­controlled smart thermostats. This technology has the potential to reduce space conditioning demand in multi­unit residential buildings (MURBs) as well, however no previous studies have tested the performance of sma...