Local personalized heating in a field study—Suggestions for implementation of personalized environmental control systems in real offices

In winter 2022/23, German legislators mandated lower indoor air temperature thresholds for public and non-residential buildings due to reduced natural gas imports from Russia. The temperature for light office work, set at 19 °C until April 2023, spurred the evaluation of local compensatory heating elements. Personalized environmental control systems (PECS) can enhance individuals’ thermal satisfaction while concurrently saving energy. Using a sample of 15 university employees, the study investigated a PECS that addresses both upper and lower body parts with a heatable office chair and desk-mounted heating mats with respect to energy use, usage profiles and thermal comfort. Over three weeks, participants rated thermal comfort multiple times during the day in surveys, and temperature, humidity, and CO 2 were measured in each office. Energy consumption of the devices was monitored with socket outlet adapters. Results showed that room temperatures in the field study were often higher than the mandated 19 °C due to thermal loads such as computers and monitors and solar gains in the building. Due to predominantly neutral thermal sensation, we could not determine a significant improvement in comfort provided by local heating. High acceptance and use of local heating allow us to draw suggestions for future implementation strategies, including a modular system for individualized PECS, optimized test setups, refined measurement and survey methodologies, and approaches to mitigate inter-individual challenges. • Developed an objective and subjective measurement framework for PECS evaluation. • Evaluated a heated chair, on-desk and under-desk heaters as localized actors. • Field study during the nationally mandated heating limit of 19 ° C in Winter 2022/23. • Examined user-controlled PECS regarding TC, energy consumption, and usage patterns.