Jihoon Chung, Ph.D. contact@j-chung.kr

Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

Small and medium-sized commercial buildings (SMCBs) are 94% of U.S. commercial buildings and account for nearly half of commercial building energy use, yet they lack affordable, interoperable building energy management (BEM) tools. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory I develop portable, vendor-agnostic BEM and supervisory control for these buildings, supporting the U.S. Department of Energy's Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings initiative.

01

Approach

A configuration-driven platform that integrates model predictive control, VOLTTRON middleware, Brick Schema semantic models, and the BACnet and Modbus protocols, so that it can be deployed across heterogeneous building stock regardless of equipment vendor.

Open the figure at full size. Four-layer system architecture. Application layer: four web clients connect to a web server, and external dashboards run in Grafana. Data management layer: VOLTTRON middleware with five drivers, writing to an InfluxDB time-series database. Network layer: BACnet, Modbus and HTTP or HTTPS. Data source layer: installed control and sensing devices (smart thermostat, IoT sensor, energy meter) and external data sources (electricity price API, carbon intensity API).
System architecture of the scalable BEM system. Chung et al., SimBuild 2026.[DOI]

From model to configuration

One semantic building model, written in YAML or as a Brick model, generates the configuration files for each building.

Building, controller and gridA layered system. Top, the grid sends price and carbon signals. Middle, a supervisory controller combines model predictive control, VOLTTRON and a Brick model. Bottom, a small commercial building receives setpoints and returns telemetry over BACnet and Modbus.GRIDCONTROLBUILDINGprice, carbon signalSupervisory controllerMPCVOLTTRONBrick modelRTUmetersetpointstelemetryBACnet · Modbussmall or medium commercial building
ConceptDiagram placeholder, to be redrawn
02

Validation

  • Simulation

    BOPTEST emulator

    Simulation-based validation with the DOE-developed BOPTEST emulator across HVAC system types, including fan coil and hydronic systems.

    Paper: SimBuild 2026

  • Field

    ORNL office building

    Field deployment of the platform in an occupied office building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

  • Laboratory and literature

    Medical offices and industrial facilities

    Laboratory validation for small and medium-sized medical office buildings, and a literature-based feasibility assessment for small and medium industrial facilities.

    Reports: ORNL/TM-2026/4854 · ORNL/TM-2026/4735

03

Design + code

ORBIT, the open-source platform from this theme: how it looks to a building operator, and what it is built with.

Sketch of the ORBIT operator interfaceSketch of an operator interface with a building list, a zone floor plan, a time-series chart with a setpoint band, and supervisory control settings
ORBIT operator interface screenshot, to comeWeb application · 16:10

ORBIT

ORNL Building Interactive Toolkit

Open-source, scalable software platform for building energy management in small and medium-sized commercial buildings.

Stack

  • Next.js
  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Python
  • VOLTTRON
  • GraphQL
  • Prisma
  • Docker
  • BACnet
  • Modbus
  • Brick Schema

Built on PNNL's VOLTTRON middleware and AEMS framework, and extended at ORNL.

Source code on GitHubJChung-Research/ornl-building-interactive-toolkit

  • Devices

    Vendor-agnostic device integration over BACnet and Modbus.

  • Interface

    A configuration-driven web application for real-time monitoring, time-series visualization and supervisory control.

  • Configuration

    Automated configuration from a single semantic building model.

  • Deployment

    Containerized with Docker Compose.

04

Funded projects

RoleContributor and developer

  1. May 2025 to present

    Development and Validation of Low-Cost, Interoperable, User-Centric Supervisory Controller Kit for Small and Medium Size Commercial Buildings

    DOE Building Technologies Office

    Report: ORNL/TM-2026/4715

  2. Oct 2025 to present

    BTRIC Tech Collaboration: Low-Cost, Customizable Heating & Cooling Management for Small and Medium-Sized Medical Office Buildings

    DOE Building Technologies Office

    Report: ORNL/TM-2026/4854

  3. Apr 2026 to present

    Feasibility of Extending the Supervisory Controller Kit to Small and Medium-Sized Industrial Facilities

    DOE Building Technologies Office

    Report: ORNL/TM-2026/4735

  4. Dec 2025 to present

    Validation of AReCoS Intelligent Control Systems for Energy Optimization in Rooftop Units with Building Supervisory Integration

    AReCoS LLC & ORNL

In collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, AReCoS LLC, and the Alliance for Energy Innovation.

05

Publications

Conference paper

  1. May 2026

    Simulation-Based Validation of an Open-Source, Scalable Framework for Building Energy Management in Small and Medium-Sized Commercial Buildings

    Chung, J., Huang, S., Lian, J., Katipamula, S., and Lutes, R.

    Proceedings of SimBuild 2026, Minneapolis. [DOI] [PDF]

Technical reports

  1. Sep 2026

    Generalizable Web User Interface for Scalable and Streamlined Deployment of Building Energy Management Systems in Small and Medium-Sized Commercial Buildings

    Chung, J., Huang, S., Liu, B., Lian, J., Dong, J., Katipamula, S., and Lutes, R.

    ORNL/TM-2026/4715, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [DOI] [PDF]

  2. Sep 2026

    Low-Cost, Customizable Heating and Cooling Management for Small and Medium-Sized Medical Office Buildings: Design and Laboratory Validation

    Chung, J., Lian, J., Huang, S., Dong, J., and Liu, B.

    ORNL/TM-2026/4854, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [DOI] [PDF]

  3. Aug 2026

    Extending the Supervisory Controller Kit for Small and Medium-Sized Commercial Buildings to Small and Medium Industrial Facilities: A Literature-Based Feasibility Assessment

    Chung, J., Lian, J., and Cui, B.

    ORNL/TM-2026/4735, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [DOI] [PDF]

06

Talk

  1. Bridging the Gap Between Smart Building Devices and Accessible Energy Management Software for Small and Medium-Sized Commercial Buildings

    Batter Up! Pitch your SimBuild 2026 Sessions, IBPSA-USA.