States that with the increased use of computers in the direct digital control of building services systems, the use of advanced control algorithms for environmental control in buildings is possible. Presents a performance comparison of an advanced technique - predictive control - with those of conventional on/off and PID methods for the control of temperature in a single zone. Carries out simulations in which conventional (instantaneously sensed) on/off control and predictive (model-based) on/off control are compared with experimental results. Describes further simulations in which predictive on/off control is compared with conventional on/off and PID strategies. Shows that the predictive on/of approach gives better control than that of conventional on/off and similar control to that of the PID approach. Further shows that with appropriate implementation hardware, a predictive minimum variance method can give control performance superior to that of PID.

KEYWORDS: Controls, computer controls, comparing, efficiency, energy management, algorithms, performance, predictive controls