“Personal comfort systems” – the jack-of-all-trades of office air conditioning?

It is nothing new that the automotive industry is far ahead of the construction industry when it comes to innovation. So why not think outside the box, look at the innovation pioneers and secretly copy a little?! – The only thing that remains to be taken into account is not to adopt the mistakes, such as the practice of generating fake emission figures 😜.

This idea is not new in the real estate sector either, at least in the research world. Internationally, several research institutions have been pursuing the idea of “Personal Comfort Systems” (PKS) for years, if not decades. The core elements of the PKS are seat heating and cooling through slight air movement. In Germany, for example, Sumee Park at the Fraunhofer Institute is intensively involved in the assessment of thermal comfort (here again primarily in automobiles). The initial findings make every builder's heart beat faster: reduced energy consumption with greater comfort is possible! According to initial calculations by the SBIF, investment costs for office buildings could even fall.

For all those who are now puzzled and wondering why one should react so enthusiastically, here is some background information:

Saving energy has not only been “cool” since the topic of ESG became trendy - and not only since the explosion in energy prices in 2022 has it become essential in order to remain liquid; By the way, it helps us a lot in protecting the planet from overheating #GlobalWarming (Duh!)*.
*Mind you, the PKS concept is only a small step towards consuming less energy and is therefore more likely to be viewed as “less bad” rather than “environmentally friendly” or even “climate-saving”.

But why is increased individual comfort so great for the office world? For energy reasons, temperature zones are currently only permitted for closed or large areas. This often leads, especially in open-plan offices, to colleague A opening the window while colleague B turns up the heating to compensate. Energetically speaking, a mortal sin that deserves draconian measures 😜. It would therefore be advantageous if everyone could influence their own climate without influencing the climate of their colleagues.

In order to implement this with the current rules of technology, temperature zones the size of the workplace would be necessary and a colossal mountain of supply technology in the office would be necessary. Realizing this in turn drives up the investment costs and subsequently the rental costs.

According to a study* by Barkeley University, warming PKS devices could save up to 20% heating energy (costs) by reducing the room temperature across the board and keeping it stable, while at the same time providing the final levels of comfort individually for each workplace. Cooling PKS systems could save up to 30% cooling energy (costs). For this purpose, seat heating and cooling, foot and hand warmers as well as table fans would be used, which use radiant heat and evaporative cooling to change the perceived temperature. *Berkeley study

Adapted to the Central European climate, there are theoretical savings of approx. 15% heating and 30% cooling energy, as calculations by the SBIF show.

This technology has currently only been tested in the automotive industry and has proven itself there. Practical research is still needed in this field in everyday office life. This is exactly what the Smart Building Innovation Foundation (SBIF) and its sponsors have set out to do. A “proof of concept prototype” should be created and tested with real people in the office. The benefits are too tempting to disappear into a drawer without being noticed.

Thank you Thomas Kirmayr from the Fraunhofer Institute for connecting with Sumee Park, Robin Meier from UBM for your proactive role in developing prototypes and Sumee Park for the great input and helpful guides.