Thermostat with preemptive heating, cooling, and ventilation in response to elevated occupancy detection via proxy

A method for controlling a temperature of a building space, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a processing circuit, an occupancy gas signal from an occupancy gas sensor, wherein the occupancy gas signal indicates an occupant generated gas concentration level within the building space, wherein the occupancy gas signal is a volatile organic compound (VOC) concentration level or a nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration level;
• generating, by the processing circuit, a gas signal baseline based on a plurality of samples of the occupancy gas signal collected by the processing circuit during deployment of the processing circuit in the building space by periodically updating the gas signal baseline as the plurality of samples of the occupancy gas signal are collected;
• determining, by the processing circuit, a number of occupants within the building space based on a comparison of the occupancy gas signal to the gas signal baseline;
• determining, by the processing circuit, whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by a predefined amount based on the occupancy gas signal;
• preemptively causing, by the processing circuit, a cooling call to be generated by decreasing a value of a temperature setpoint for the building space from a first value to a second value less than the temperature of the building space in response to a determination that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupancy gas signal;
• and
• reducing, by the processing circuit, the temperature of the building space by controlling one or more pieces of building equipment associated with the building space based on the second value of the temperature setpoint in response to the cooling call being generated.

A building control system for controlling a temperature of a building space, the building control system comprising:

• a gas sensor configured to measure an occupant generated gas concentration level within the building space;
• and
• a processing circuit configured to:
• receive the occupant generated gas concentration level from the gas sensor;
• generate a gas signal baseline based on a plurality of samples of the occupant generated gas concentration level collected by the building control system by periodically updating the gas signal baseline as the plurality of samples of the occupant generated gas concentration level are collected;
• determine whether a number of occupants within the building space has increased by a predefined amount based on a comparison of the occupant generated gas concentration level to the gas signal baseline;
• preemptively cause a cooling call to be generated by decreasing a value of a temperature setpoint for the building space from a first value to a second value in response to a determination that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupant generated gas concentration level;
• and
• reduce the temperature of the building space by controlling one or more pieces of building equipment associated with the building space based on the second value of the temperature setpoint in response to the cooling call being generated.