Setting sustainable urban development goals and developing energy efficient solutions for buildings are crucial elements of climate action. Urban living is introducing new challenges both for architectural design and technical solutions. Ventilation systems have an important impact both on energy use as well as indoor climate and health in buildings. So, how can we develop good home ventilation solutions fit for urban living?
Work performed so far in the field of ductwork airtightness has shown that it may lead to important energy losses and increased fan energy use. Nevertheless, a recent survey has shown that ductwork airtightness does not seem to be taken into account (neither in regulation nor in energy performance programmes) in most European countries. Progress is therefore needed to better understand the impact of ductwork airtightness on energy use (fan, cooling and heating) and indoor air quality.
Ventilative cooling is the use of natural or mechanical ventilation strategies to cool indoor spaces. It can significantly reduce the cooling energy demand in summer or mid-season conditions. Therefore, ventilative cooling is increasingly common in NZEBs.
This BUILD UP Web Seminar addressed the following:
Over the past few years, there has been an increasing number of airtightness tests performed in Europe either for specific high performance buildings programmes or for a wide range of buildings in regulatory contexts. This has led to the development of competent tester schemes to contain potential legal and competition issues.
The objective of this webinar was to give information on the status and trends in airtightness testing in the UK,Denmark and Belgium including the details and feedback on competent tester schemes.
There are several initiatives to collect building airtightness data from field measurements whose number increases rapidly with the trend towards low-energy buildings. The objective of this webinar was to give an overview of the needs identified in several countries and reasons behind the development of air leakage databases. This webinar was organised within an AIVC-TightVent project whose aim is to facilitate the development of air leakage databases.
MOS VOC sensors gain increasing attention in the ventilation community because of their low price and claimed ability to supplement or even substitute CO2 sensors for demand control. Even though there are many “IEQ” meters available on the market, where these sensors are used, the amount of scientific studi`es focused on their reliability and applicability is still limited.
Over the years, different approaches and indices have been used to define indoor air quality. The most frequently used, recognised by the public, and equated with indoor air quality are, of course, ventilation rate and concentration of carbon dioxide. Other approaches define the levels of dissatisfaction with acceptability of indoor air quality, as expressed by the building occupants. At some point in time, the total concentration of airborne volatile organic compounds was proposed, as well.
Over the past few years, there has been an increasing number of airtightness tests performed in Europe either for specific high-performance buildings programmes or for a wide range of buildings in regulatory contexts. This has led to the development of competent tester schemes to contain potential legal and competition issues.
The objective of this webinar was to give information on the status and trends in airtightness testing in Denmark, Ireland, and Sweden including the details and feedback on competent tester schemes.
Ventilative cooling—i.e., the use of natural or mechanical ventilation strategies to cool indoor spaces—can be very effective to reduce the cooling energy demand in buildings in summer or mid-season conditions. This webinar was part of a broader series focusing on ventilative cooling in energy performance, within the context of compliance with building regulations in several countries.
Ventilative cooling –i.e., the use of natural or mechanical ventilation strategies to cool indoor spaces– can be very effective to reduce the cooling energy demand in buildings in summer or mid-season conditions. The principal objective of this webinar series was to give the status, needs, and perspectives on developments to consider ventilative cooling in energy performance assessment methods in several countries. This first webinar will focus on the developments in Austria, Denmark and France.
