IEA EBC Annex 87 focuses on the energy and Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Performance of Personalised Environmental Control Systems (PECS). The objective of Annex 87 is to establish design criteria and operation guidelines for PECS, and to quantify the benefits regarding health, comfort and energy performance. This includes also control concepts and guidelines for operating PECS in spaces with general ambient systems for heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting. There are about 50 active participants from 18 countries, providing broad and international input.

Annex 87 is structured to reflect these objectives. Subtask A focuses on fundamentals, Subtask B focuses on PECS applications and technologies, Subtask C focuses on controls (including operation and system integration), Subtask D focuses on IEQ and energy performance evaluation, and Subtask E focuses on policy development and advocacy actions.

The main outcome of Annex 87 so far is three review papers that detail the performance of PECS. These papers are:

• Personalized Environmental Control Systems (PECS): Systematic Review of Benefits for Thermal Comfort, Air Quality, Health, and Human Performance
• Personalized Environmental Control Systems (PECS): A systematic review of performance evaluation methods for thermal comfort, air quality and energy
• Definition and Performance of Acoustic Personalised Environmental Control Systems (Acoustic PECS): A Systematic Review

In addition to these published papers, there is work ongoing on several other review papers that will identify the performance and requirements of PECS in different aspects.

In addition to the review activities, the group is also working on developing a PECS Wikipedia (to be hosted under the obtained thepecs.org website), PECS simulation methodology, round-robin tests, industry survey, and list of commercially available PECS. These activities are expected to help spread the knowledge about PECS and also help practitioners follow unified performance evaluation methods, and evaluation criteria.

It is expected that the results of Annex 87 will feed into the revision of EN 16798-1/2 and ISO 17772-1/2, which are European and International standards that specify the requirements for indoor environmental parameters for thermal environment, indoor air quality, lighting and acoustics, and how to establish these parameters for building system design and energy performance calculations.

There is a large interest in the annex both from researchers and from practitioners. In the remainder of the project period, the group will focus on developing design, operation, and evaluation guidelines based on the results which will help turn PECS into a more mainstream indoor environmental design solution to improve occupant comfort, improve energy performance, and possibly contribute to a more sustainable building design practice.