This report is a deliverable from IEA-EBC Annex 78 “Supplementing Ventilation with Gas-phase Air Cleaning, Implementation and Energy Implications”. Annex 78 also looked at a new test method for gas-phase air cleaning technologies, how gas-phase air cleaning technologies may partly substitute for outside air, the energy impact of using air cleaners to improve indoor air quality and the long-term performance of gas-phase air cleaners.

Worldwide, there is an increasing number of publications related to air cleaning and there is also an increasing sale of gas phase air cleaning products. This puts a demand for verifying the influence of using air cleaning on indoor air quality, comfort, well-being and health. It is thus important to learn whether air cleaning can supplement ventilation with respect to improving air quality i.e. whether it can partly substitute the ventilation rates required by standards.

An ideal ventilation system should be robust and capable of providing thermal comfort and good indoor air quality (IAQ) that safeguards occupant health while also minimising space conditioning costs and reducing auxiliary energy use for fans.