mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

HVAC-DPT: A Decision Pretrained Transformer for HVAC Control

arXiv 2411.19746 ↗First posted 29 Nov 2024cs.LG cs.AI cs.MAcited by 1

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Abstract (arXiv)

Building operations consume approximately 40% of global energy, with Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems responsible for up to 50% of this consumption. As HVAC energy demands are expected to rise, optimising system efficiency is crucial for reducing future energy use and mitigating climate change. Existing control strategies lack generalisation and require extensive training and data, limiting their rapid deployment across diverse buildings. This paper introduces HVAC-DPT, a Decision-Pretrained Transformer using in-context Reinforcement Learning (RL) for multi-zone HVAC control. HVAC-DPT frames HVAC control as a sequential prediction task, training a causal transformer on interaction histories generated by diverse RL agents. This approach enables HVAC-DPT to refine its policy in-context, without modifying network parameters, allowing for deployment across different buildings without the need for additional training or data collection. HVAC-DPT reduces energy consumption in unseen buildings by 45% compared to the baseline controller, offering a scalable and effective approach to mitigating the increasing environmental impact of HVAC systems.

Key facts. Cited by 1 paper in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 8 of its 19 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 29 Nov 2024.

Builds on

8 of 19 references.

References · 8

  1. 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 60,361
  2. 2022In-context Reinforcement Learning with Algorithm Distillationcited by 190
  3. 2023Supervised Pretraining Can Learn In-Context Reinforcement Learningcited by 139
  4. 2023Transformers as Decision Makers: Provable In-Context Reinforcement Learning via Supervised Pretrainingcited by 83
  5. 2023Emergence of In-Context Reinforcement Learning from Noise Distillationcited by 27
  6. 2023In-Context Reinforcement Learning for Variable Action Spacescited by 24
  7. 2024Pretraining Decision Transformers with Reward Prediction for In-Context Multi-task Structured Bandit Learningcited by 10
  8. 2024Decision Transformer as a Foundation Model for Partially Observable Continuous Controlcited by 5

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Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 1.

1 paper.

  1. 2026Verifier-Based Reinforcement Fine-Tuning of Reasoning Models for Thermal Energy Storage Controlcited by 1

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026Safe Deep Reinforcement Learning for Energy-Efficient HVAC Control in Multi-Zone Residential Buildings
  2. 2026Hierarchical Control Framework Integrating LLMs with RL for Decarbonized HVAC Operation
  3. 2026Counter-Dyna: Data-Efficient RL-Based HVAC Control using Counterfactual Building Models
  4. 2025Continual Reinforcement Learning for HVAC Systems Control: Integrating Hypernetworks and Transfer Learning
  5. 2024An experimental evaluation of Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms for HVAC control
  6. 2024Employing Federated Learning for Training Autonomous HVAC Systems
  7. 2026Generalizing HVAC Control With Domain Randomized Reinforcement Learning
  8. 2026Knowledge Distillation for Efficient Transformer-Based Reinforcement Learning in Hardware-Constrained Energy Management Systems