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The same reason you don't put a space heater and window AC in every room. Because it's inefficient, ineffective, and archaic.

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Yep, you want the whole thing to act like a system not a bunch of parts. Energy savings and a comfortable environment really depends on this. A poorly setup system can be a nightmare for the maintenance staff.

And so this is why, in our office with a thermostat and ducts in every room, it's typically freezing in 1/3rd of the conference rooms, another 1/3 are way too hot, and there is zero meaningful control using the thermostats in the rooms over this?

Not saying it's not a good idea, just saying that in reality I've seen these systems work very poorly together in most office environments I've been in.

Well, if you have thermostats in every room, I would imagine that it would be impossible to get a consistent temperature. All the commands and one system to sort it out and move air cannot be good.

If I ever teach a CompSci again, I would think about making a climate controller a problem set. My first choice is a storage building controller, but this would be interesting.

That sounds like bad air balancing, but that the control system is "working".

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