How can people's small decisions - like what to wear to the airport - reveal bigger insights about energy use in complex buildings?
Through Concordia's Volt-Age program, Mohamed Ouf, associate professor of building, civil and environmental engineering, is transforming YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport into a testing ground for energy-efficient building design.
YUL Montréal-Trudeau is one of Canada's busiest airports. It moves millions of passengers each year while consuming large amounts of energy to heat, cool, light and ventilate its terminals. The question driving the project is simple: can all that activity run on less energy - without compromising comfort?
From stable offices to dynamic airports
Most building research has focused on offices or homes, where schedules and occupancy are relatively predictable. Airports are different. They operate 24/7. Passenger volumes rise and fall with flight schedules, weather and global events. Entire areas can fill or empty within minutes.
"Airports combine lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning with constantly shifting occupancy," Ouf says. "That makes them ideal for studying how buildings can operate smarter."
The team measures how electricity, heating and cooling flow through the terminals and where energy is used most. They also examine occupant behaviour - how people respond to temperature, lighting, ventilation and crowding.
Because people spend about 90 per cent of their time indoors, Ouf notes, buildings directly affect comfort, productivity and health. Improving how they operate can enhance well-being while cutting emissions.
What is a Living Lab?
The project turns the airport into a Living Lab - a research approach that moves experiments into real-world settings. Instead of testing ideas in isolation, researchers collaborate directly with the people who use the space.
At YUL Montréal-Trudeau, that includes airport engineers, staff and even passengers.
Sensors installed throughout the terminals collect real-time data on energy use, indoor climate and occupancy. Data analytics tools identify patterns and inefficiencies and adaptive control systems then adjust heating, cooling and ventilation automatically.
Passengers and employees also provide feedback through surveys on temperature, air quality, lighting and how crowded spaces feel. Even clothing choices are being monitored to offer clues about comfort expectations.
"The aim is to keep the human in the loop. Technology does not replace people; it responds to them," explains Jennifer Garard, Director of Engagement, Living Labs and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Volt-Age.
In practice, this means ventilation increases if a gate area fills unexpectedly. If a space empties late at night, heating or cooling scales back. The building adapts continuously to how it is being used.
Associate professor Mohamed Ouf looks out over the domestic terminal at YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport, where the project is being tested.Training the next generation
The Living Lab is also a training ground for graduate students. Through Volt-Age funding, master's and doctoral students work directly with airport operations teams. Instead of relying only on computer simulations, they analyze real-time airport data and test solutions in a facility that never closes.
For Guillermo Quesada Ramos, energy management engineer at ADM Aéroports de Montréal, large-scale environments serve as unique platforms to study and experiment with innovative approaches in electrification, renewable energy integration, and smart building management.
"Working alongside our operational teams gives students an authentic immersion into the complexity of an airport, allowing them to learn how to analyze data, test technologies in real time and evaluate their impact," he says.
Guillermo Quesada Ramos, energy management engineer at ADM Aéroports de Montréal (left) and PhD student Milad Babadi Soultanzadeh (right), interact with Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) measurement station, which measures various IEQ parameters (e.g., thermal, acoustic and lighting conditions).A blueprint beyond the airport
While the focus is YUL Montréal-Trudeau, the implications reach far beyond one airport. By testing smart controls, renewable energy integration and demand management strategies in a busy, constantly changing environment, the team identifies approaches that can be applied to office towers, hospitals, universities and other large buildings across Canada.
The airport itself aims to move toward net-zero emissions by 2040. By reducing electricity peaks, integrating weather and occupancy forecasts into operations and fine-tuning heating and cooling systems, the Living Lab supports that goal while improving the experience of passengers and staff.
"Airports offer a glimpse into how our cities function," Ouf says. "If we can optimize systems here, we can apply these solutions anywhere."
The Electrifying YUL Montréal-Trudeau Living Lab is about demonstrating how buildings can become more efficient, more responsive and more centred on the people inside them - and preparing the next generation of engineers to lead that change.
Learn more about Electrifying YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport.
