Energy and Buildings, 2026
Islam, M. S.; Jafari, A.; Bhattacharya, A.; Zhu, Y.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2026.117241
What We Studied
We systematically synthesized evidence from recent peer-reviewed studies on fan-based Personal Comfort Systems (PCS) and their reported effects on thermal comfort, cooling energy, cognitive performance, and human health, with an explicit emphasis on when energy savings are real and when airflow becomes a health risk.
- Quantified reported comfort performance under fan-assisted warm setpoints (air velocity + temperature ranges).
- Synthesized energy impacts only when studies explicitly adjusted HVAC operation (metered/modeled net savings, including fan plug loads).
- Reviewed cognitive outcomes (attention / information processing) under compensatory airflow.
- Critically assessed health evidence (cardiovascular/stress markers plus ocular/respiratory symptoms) and highlighted measurement + duration limitations.
- Mapped cross-domain tradeoffs and showed that truly integrated comfort-energy-health-cognition studies are still rare.
Key Takeaways
- Moderate air velocities around 0.8-1.5 m/s at 26-28°C can sustain >90% comfort and enable 25-45% cooling energy savings, but results vary by climate, building type, and integration strategy.
- Cognitive performance, especially attention and information processing, was reported as stable or improved under controlled airflow exposure.
- Dhort-term physiological indicators improved 20-30%, yet overall health conclusions remain inconclusive.
- Airflow can become a health problem if it’s too strong or badly aimed.
- You only get net savings when fan-enabled comfort is translated into HVAC operational changes and fan plug loads are counted, otherwise fans can just become extra plug load.