Thermal comfort maintenance in demand response programs: A critical review

In the context of demand side management, the scientific community has directed some effort into research related to modifying the load curve of consumers, where this becomes an alternative toward making sustainable the consumption of electricity. Therefore, with this possibility, there inevitably emerges the need for maintaining indoor thermal conditions suitable for users, which constitutes the aspect of comfort of highest cost in terms of energy. In this sense, as main contribution, this article presents a review that places demand response and thermal comfort as the central elements, while observing, in a critical manner, how their relationship occurs. In addition, the economic and environmental aspects always present in this type of study are analyzed, as well as the social aspect to maintain indoor climatic conditions. Furthermore, a characterization of the studies is proposed given the presence of a variety of elements related to sustainability in a quantitative and qualitative form. Thus, the studies that most use sustainable resources are highlighted and may help with the challenges to implement demand response programs in practice. Finally, the critical review contributes by identifying how the researches addresses this issue and what gaps can be filled in the future. •Thermal comfort maintenance in demand response programs is investigated.•A modified demand response structure is proposed to maintain the thermal comfort.•Research gaps concering field application are presented.•Analysis of sustainable resources in demand response with thermal comfort constraints.