Why has advanced commercial HVAC control not yet achieved its promise?

Over the last two decades, research and development efforts have shown that advanced control of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment in commercial buildings can improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and turn buildings into active participants in the power grid. Despite these efforts, advanced commercial HVAC control has not yet seen widespread adoption. In this paper, we argue that the research community can help companies deploy advanced HVAC control at speed and scale by reorienting research efforts toward clearly demonstrating the business case for adoption. To support this argument, we draw on findings from the 2023 Intelligent Building Operations Workshop, which brought together researchers, entrepreneurs, and representatives from industry and government to discuss current business offerings, state-of-the-art field demonstrations, barriers to adoption, and future directions.