Da Yan is a tenured professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, and Deputy Director of the Institute of Built Environment. He was awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the international SCI journal Building Simulation and Section Editor of the international SCI journal Energy and Buildings. He serves as Chair of the Building Simulation Committee of the China Simulation Federation and China HVAC Society's Building Simulation Committee. He also serves as President of the International Building Performance Simulation Association China Affiliation (IBPSA-China) and chairs ASHRAE Technical Committee 7.10 Occupant Behavior in Building Design and Operation. He has been awarded the title of Fellow by IBPSA and by the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ). He has also been awarded the ASHRAE Distinguished Service Award. His research mainly focuses on the development of building performance simulation, quantitative description and modeling of occupant behavior, and applications of artificial intelligence in building energy systems. Prof. Yan has led more than 20 projects, funded by the National Science and Technology Support Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has published more than 300 academic papers, including over 210 SCI-indexed papers, with more than 20,000 citations and an H-index of 68. He was awarded Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2025. He has also co-authored more than ten books and reports and filed more than 10 invention patent applications and software copyright registrations. In 2008, he was awarded the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
〖Education〗
B.Eng. in Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning Engineering
1995.09 - 2000.07 Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University
Ph.D. in Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning Engineering
2000.09 - 2005.07 School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
〖Professional Experience〗
2020.12-present, Tenured Professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
2017.12-2020.12, Tenured Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
2009.11-2017.12, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
2007.04-2009.11, Lecturer, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
2005.07-2007.04, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
〖Teaching Experience〗
1. HVAC System Process Simulation and Analysis, required graduate course, 48 contact hours, 30 students, since 2010
2. Simulation and Application of Indoor Thermal Environments in Buildings, graduate elective, 32 contact hours, 20 students, since 2005
3. Professional Education and Orientation, required undergraduate course, 32 contact hours, 35 students, since 2012
4. Introduction to Building Energy Efficiency, university-wide undergraduate elective, 32 contact hours, 60 students, since 2015
〖Student Honors〗
1. Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation, Tsinghua University: Yi Wu (2026)
2. Outstanding Master's Thesis, Tsinghua University: Chenxi Gui (2021); Xiaoxin Ren (2015)
3. Outstanding Master's Thesis, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University: Ying Cui (2017)
4. Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University: Xuyuan Kang (2018)
〖Services〗
1. Editor-in-Chief, Building Simulation
2. Section Editor, Energy and Buildings
3. Chair, Building Simulation Committee, China Simulation Federation
4. Chair, Building Simulation Committee, China HVAC Society
5. President, International Building Performance Simulation Association China Affiliation (IBPSA-China)
6. Chair, ASHRAE Technical Committee 7.10 Occupant Behavior in Building Design and Operation
〖Invited Presentations〗
Selected invited presentations are listed below:
1. "Integrating AI with Domain Knowledge for Building Energy Systems: Practices and Explorations", invited keynote, BAS 2026, Hong Kong, June 11, 2026.
2. "Integrating AI with Domain Knowledge for Building Energy Systems: Practices and Explorations", invited lecture, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, April 13, 2026.
3. "A Novel Approach to Construct Representative Meteorological Years for Climate-Resilient Building Energy Simulation", invited presentation, UNSW–Tsinghua University Workshop, UNSW Sydney, August 29, 2025.
4. "High-Resolution Urban Building Energy Models", invited lecture, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, August 22, 2025.
5. "Leveraging AI for Optimizing Building Energy Systems: Practices and Explorations", keynote presentation, SuDBE 2025, Cambridge, United Kingdom, July 28, 2025.
6. "China Building Decarbonization", invited lecture, Wuppertal Institute, Germany, July 10, 2025.
7. "High-Resolution Urban Building Energy Models: Current Progress and Challenges", keynote speech, BAS 2025, Sweden, July 2, 2025.
8. "Leveraging AI for Optimizing Building Energy Systems: Practices and Explorations", invited presentation at a conference, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, January 8, 2025.
9. "Building Performance Simulation: Present Status and Future Challenges", plenary presentation, ASIM, December 10, 2024.
10. "Smart Control of Thermal Energy Storage System with Ensemble Learning and Deep Reinforcement Learning", Turkish Society of HVAC and Sanitary Engineers, September 2022
11. "A New Model for Typical Building Electricity Use Profile Generation to Support Renewable Energy System and Smart Grid Integration", 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE), July 2022
12. "Current Status and Future Perspectives of China's Building Construction Sector", Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, June 2019
13. "Challenge and Perspective of Building Performance Simulation Technique", The University of Manchester, May 2019
14. "Occupant Behavior Modelling for Building Simulation", Massachusetts Institute of Technology, October 2018
15. "Building Energy Efficiency and Occupant Behavior", National University of Singapore, August 2018
16. "Building Energy in China", Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, April 2018
17. "IEA Experts' Dialogue on Materials Trends in Building Construction", International Energy Agency, March 2018
18. "Occupant Behavior Modeling for Building Performance Simulation: Current State and Future Challenges - Introduction of DeST Lab", Concordia University, November 2017
19. "Representing the Stochasticity of Occupant Behavior Models in Validation and Simulation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, June 2017
20. "Occupant Behavior Simulation in Buildings: Demands, Ongoing Work and Perspectives", University of Cambridge, March 2017
21. "Building Energy in China", Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), June 2015
〖Research Projects〗
Prof. Yan has led or served as principal investigator for more than 20 research projects. Selected projects are listed below:
• Research Projects:
1. National Natural Science Foundation of China International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project (52561160148), Multivariate Assessment, Intelligent Prediction and Systematic Reduction of Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions from Buildings in High-Density Cities, Principal Investigator, 2026.01-2029.12
2. Beijing Science and Technology Plan Project, Research and Demonstration of Precision Energy-Use Control for Heating Systems Based on Coordinated Meteorological Variables, Task Leader, 2024.01-2025.12
3. National Key R&D Program of China under the 14th Five-Year Plan, Carbon-Neutrality Assessment Models and Technical Pathways for Typical Chinese and European Industries, Project Leader, 2023.12-2026.11
4. National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Building Performance Simulation, Principal Investigator, 2023.01-2027.12
5. Beijing Natural Science Foundation General Program (8222019), Heat-Transfer Mechanisms and Simulation Methods for Spectrally Selective Radiative Cooling Films in Buildings, Principal Investigator, 2022.01-2024.12
6. National Key R&D Program of China under the 13th Five-Year Plan, Development of the Core Building Performance Simulation Platform, Project Leader, 2017.07-2021.06
7. IEA EBC Annex 66: Definition and Simulation of Occupant Behavior in Buildings, Operating Agent, 2013.07-2018.06
• Engineering Consulting Projects:
1. Research on Big-Data Analysis of Public-Building Multi-Split Air-Conditioning Operation and Application of an Operational Performance Evaluation Index System, Zhuhai Gree Green Control Technology Co., Ltd., 2023.12-2025.12
2. Research and Demonstration of Carbon-Neutrality Pathways and Smart Carbon-Reduction Technologies for Modern Commercial Parks in Xiong'an New Area, Administrative Committee of Hebei Xiong'an New Area, 2022.10-2025.09
3. Case Study of AI-Based Cooling-Load Prediction and Optimal Cooling-Plant Control for Commercial Complexes, Swire Properties Limited, 2019.11-2025.12
4. Green Operations Planning Consultancy for Beijing Daxing International Airport
5. Energy-Efficiency Consultancy for Wuhan Center (400 m high; 350,000 sq m)
6. Research on Integrated Building Energy-Efficiency Technologies for Large Railway Passenger Stations in Five Representative Climate Zones of China
7. HVAC System Design for Harbin West Railway Station and Jilin Railway Station
8. Energy-Efficiency Consultancy for Beijing Jiangtai Business Center (300,000 sq m)
9. HVAC System Design for HKRI Taikoo Hui, Shanghai (480,000 sq m)
10. Energy-Efficiency System Design and Optimization for a Swire Coca-Cola Plant
11. Energy-Efficiency Consultancy for Capital Hotel
12. Cooling-Load Prediction and Cooling-System Optimization for One Island East
13. Energy-Efficiency Evaluation of the HVAC System at the National Stadium
14. Energy-Efficiency Study of the Air-Conditioning System for Beijing Metro Line 4
〖Papers & Books〗
Prof. Yan has published more than 300 academic papers, including over 210 SCI-indexed papers, with more than 20,000 citations and an H-index of 68. He was awarded the title of Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2025. He has co-authored more than ten books and reports and contributed to more than ten standards. Selected works are listed below:
• SCI Journal Articles:
1. Da Yan*, Bing Dong, Zheng O'Neill, et al. Whole-process AI in building applications: A framework of integrating AI with domain knowledge [J]. Building Simulation, 2026. DOI: 10.1007/s12273-026-1487-z.
2. Da Yan*, Xin Zhou, Jingjing An, et al. DeST 3.0: A new-generation building performance simulation platform [J]. Building Simulation, 2022, 15(11): 1849-1868.
3. Shan Hu, Yang Zhang, Ziyi Yang, Da Yan*, and Yi Jiang. Challenges and opportunities for carbon neutrality in China's building sector - Modelling and data. Building Simulation, 2022, 15(11): 1899-1921.
4. Da Yan*, Tianzhen Hong*, Bing Dong, et al. IEA EBC Annex 66: Definition and simulation of occupant behavior in buildings. Energy and Buildings, 2017, 156: 258-270.
5. Shan Hu, Da Yan*, Siyue Guo, Ying Cui, and Bing Dong. A survey on energy consumption and energy usage behavior of households and residential building in urban China. Energy and Buildings, 2017, 148: 366-378.
6. Da Yan*, William O'Brien, Tianzhen Hong, et al. Occupant behavior modeling for building performance simulation: Current state and future challenges [J]. Energy and Buildings, 2015, 107: 264-278.
• Books & Reports:
1. Da Yan, Chuang Wang, Jingjing An, et al. Introduction to Occupant Energy-Use Behavior in Buildings. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 2022.
2. Shan Hu, Yi Jiang, and Da Yan. China Building Energy Use and Carbon Emission Yearbook 2021 - A Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality by 2060. Beijing: Springer and China Architecture & Building Press, 2022.
3. The Future of Cooling in China: Delivering on Action Plans for Sustainable Air Conditioning (2019)
4. Da Yan, Tianzhen Hong, Bing Dong, et al. Definition and Simulation of Occupant Behavior in Buildings. IEA EBC Annex 66 Report, 2018.
5. China Building Energy Use (2016-2018)
6. Building Energy Use in China: Transforming Construction and Influencing Consumption to 2050 (2015)
• Standards:
1. Standard Method of Test for the Evaluation of Building Energy Analysis Computer Programs (ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 140-2017)
2. Standard for Green Performance Calculation of Civil Buildings (JGJ/T 449-2018)
3. Standard for Energy Consumption of Buildings (GB/T 51161-2016)
4. Weather Parameters for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning of Civil Buildings in Beijing (DB11/T 1643-2019)
5. Technical Standard for Thermal Storage Air-Conditioning Systems (JGJ 158-2018)
6. Design Code for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning of Industrial Buildings (GB 50019-2015)
7. Standard for Energy-Efficiency Assessment of Public Buildings (DB11/T 1198-2015)
8. Design Standard for Energy Efficiency of Residential Buildings in Beijing (DB11/891-2020)
9. Design Standard for Energy Efficiency of Public Buildings in Beijing (DB11/T 687-2024)
〖Software Copyright〗
Prof. Yan has obtained 12 software copyrights. Selected registrations are listed below:
1. Joint THU-LBNL Occupant Behavior Simulation Software [obFMU]
2. DeST Building Performance Simulation Platform Core Software [DeST] V3.0
3. Building Energy-Use Data Mining and Prediction Kernel Software V1.0
4. Dynamic Building-Shading Simulation and Analysis Software [DeST-BS] V1.0
5. Beijing-Specific Meteorological Parameter Dataset Software [MEDPHA-Beijing] V1.0
6. Multi-Module Building-Load Co-Simulation and Analysis Software [DeST-FMI] V1.0
7. Community Building Cooling- and Heating-Load Simulation Software [DeST-district] V1.0
8. Building Energy-Use Occupant Action Simulation Software V1.0
9. Building Occupant Movement Calculation Software V1.0
10. Building Energy-Efficiency Design Parameter Dataset Software for Multiple Non-Exceedance Probabilities and Independent Parameters V1.0
〖Invention Patents〗
Representative invention patents are listed below:
1. Supervisory Control Method, Apparatus, Device and Storage Medium for Refrigeration Systems, ZL 2023 1 1578838.4, Da Yan; Xiao Wang; Xuyuan Kang; Hongsan Sun
2. Control Method for Building Energy Systems, Predictive Control Device and Cloud Platform, ZL 2025 1 1756230.5, Xiao Wang; Da Yan; Hongsan Sun; Xuyuan Kang
3. Building Energy-Consumption Prediction Method and Apparatus, ZL 2023 1 1605332.8, Da Yan; Fan Bu; Hongsan Sun; Ruhong Wu
〖Awards〗
1. Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award of China. Development and Application of DeST for Building Energy Conservation. (2008)
2. First Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award, Ministry of Education of China. Development and Application of DeST for Building Energy Conservation. (2008)
3. Second Prize of the Railway Science and Technology Award, China Railway Society. Research on Building Energy Integrated Technology of Large Railway Stations. (2011)
4. “Annual Report on China Building Energy Efficiency” Series Annual Report, National Energy Administration, 2014 Advanced Research on Energy Policy Science Second Prize. (2014)
5. Highly Cited Paper Award. DeST - An Integrated Building Simulation Toolkit. Part I: Fundamentals. Building Simulation. (2017)
6. Best Review Paper 2008-2017. Occupant Behavior Modeling for Building Performance Simulation: Current State and Future Challenges. Energy and Buildings. (2018)
7. International Building Performance Simulation Association Fellow (IBPSA-Fellow). (2019)
8. Listed among the World's Top 2% Scientists, Stanford University. (2021-present)
9. Distinguished Service Award, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). (2024)
10. Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate. (2025-present)
11. International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate Fellow (ISIAQ-Fellow). (2026)
〖Links〗
• Web of Science Researcher Profile: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/2237342
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uEYEo18AAAAJ&hl=en
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Da-Yan
• Tsinghua Scholars: https://thurid.lib.tsinghua.edu.cn/scholar/654195
