EN 16798-1:2019 — Foundations of Thermal Comfort & Energy Performance

EN 16798-1:2019 is the updated European standard that outlines indoor environmental criteria for buildings, covering conditions relevant to heating, cooling, ventilation, acoustics, and lighting. It applies to both residential and non-residential structures and was developed under the broader EPB mandate supporting international alignment of building energy performance methodologies. The standard provides a framework for designers, engineers, architects, and regulatory bodies to evaluate environmental quality while ensuring a consistent approach to energy and comfort requirements.

Its scope addresses the parameters that influence indoor environmental performance, including indoor air quality, humidity, lighting adequacy, background noise, and thermal comfort. Compared to its earlier predecessor, the updated version is split into two parts and introduces more explicit descriptions of expected environmental quality, daylight considerations, and occupant schedules. The standard also recognizes that expectations differ between naturally ventilated and mechanically ventilated buildings, and that the indoor environment must be evaluated year-round rather than within a narrow seasonal window.

EN 16798-1 interacts closely with widely referenced comfort frameworks by adopting the same performance indices used in internationally recognized standards. Central among these are the PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PPD (Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied), which quantify how occupants perceive their environment in terms of thermal sensation and degree of comfort. PMV represents the expected thermal response of a group when exposed to specific combinations of temperature, humidity, radiant heat, air speed, metabolic activity, and clothing insulation. From PMV, the PPD index estimates the proportion of occupants who would feel the conditions are too cold or too warm. These indices serve as inputs for sizing HVAC systems, evaluating heating and cooling loads, and determining an acceptable energy balance for the building.

Beyond comfort, the standard provides design parameters for indoor air quality, humidity, lighting, and noise. Indoor air quality can be managed through pollutant control, ventilation targets, or filtration. Guidance is provided for perceived air quality, maximum allowable substance concentrations, and minimum airflow requirements to protect health and comfort. Humidity control is addressed both as a comfort issue and as an operational requirement for specific building types, acknowledging that specialized environments—such as archival, medical, or critical-equipment facilities—may require tight control ranges that go beyond general comfort recommendations. Lighting design considers activity types, visual needs, daylight usage, and the influence that lighting systems may have on internal heat loads. Noise limits are referenced in connection with ventilation system design, recognizing that airflow equipment contributes to background acoustic conditions that must be managed to preserve indoor quality.

The standard also defines how indoor environmental parameters translate into energy-performance assessment. Required metrics, calculation methods, and seasonally structured evaluations allow building designers to comply with recommended performance targets while selecting appropriate system configurations. Sectioned provisions guide energy calculations on time scales ranging from seasonal to monthly to hourly, depending on the complexity of the building and the purpose of the analysis. The technical annex includes recommended and default criteria that allow projects to align their design targets with expected environmental performance levels.

In essence, EN 16798-1:2019 provides a harmonized foundation for indoor environmental evaluation that balances individual comfort needs with energy-performance outcomes. By integrating physical comfort indices with air-quality requirements, lighting efficiency, acoustic control, and energy methodology, the standard supports more consistent and informed design choices for modern buildings.

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For engineers who need to evaluate indoor comfort indices, ventilation efficiency, energy balance, or environmental parameters defined in EN 16798-1, tensorHVAC-Pro delivers specialized CFD-based analysis tools. Its comfort-evaluation modules, operable environment maps, thermal-flow solvers, and automated reporting features help designers verify compliance, optimize building performance, and refine HVAC concepts early in the design cycle—ensuring that environmental targets and occupant comfort expectations are met with confidence.

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