Ventilative cooling reduces overheating, improves summer comfort and decreases cooling loads. It is therefore one of the most efficient ways to improve summer comfort. Conditions on site, thermal inertia, solar control and other constraints have an impact on the choice of the system and its design. The overall performance is linked to good sizing, design, correct usage of thermal storage, and last but not least a correct control, commissioning and maintenance.
The implementation of the EPBD recast puts increasing pressure on the market to achieve better building and ductwork airtightness: for most European climates and countries, good airtightness levels are necessary to achieve nearly zero-energy buildings. The webinar aimed to inform about legislative drivers that have brought to light new concerns and stimulated new initiatives. Recent trends in European regulations as well as field studies supporting the development of competent testing schemes were discussed.
While building airtightness is a key concern in Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings in most European climates, there exists already a wide range of commercially-available products specifically designed to minimize leakage in building envelopes. The objective of this webinar was to give information on the performance and properties of these products based on research including laboratory and field tests. The speakers also provided information on standards already published and under development on this subject.
Following the recast of the energy performance of buildings directive published in May 2010, EU countries will have to implement regulations to increase the number of nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB) in the next few years, and to generalize nearly zero energy targets in new buildings and major renovations. In most European countries, building and ductwork leaks have a significant impact on energy performance and indoor climate and therefore merit special attention in the context of this directive.
AIVC defines smart ventilation as a process to continually adjust the ventilation system of a building in order to provide the desired Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) benefits while minimizing energy consumption, utility bills and other non-IAQ costs (thermal discomfort, noise, etc.). Smart ventilation responds to one or more of the following: building occupancy, outdoor conditions, electricity grid needs, operation of other building systems, direct sensing of contaminants.
The QUALICHeCK-TightVent webinar: "Building airtightness and initiatives to improve the quality of the works" was held on Tuesday 12 January, 10:00-11:30 (Brussels time). The objective of this webinar was to give background information on selected initiatives to improve the quality of the works with respect to building airtightness.
The programme included 4 presentations of 20 minutes as follows:
The current development in building energy efficiency towards nZEB buildings represents a number of new challenges to design and construction. One of these major challenges is the increased need for cooling in these highly insulated and airtight buildings, which is not only present in the summer period but also in the shoulder seasons and in offices even in midwinter. Ventilative cooling can be an energy efficient solution to address this cooling challenge in buildings.
Mandatory or voluntary building airtightness testing has come gradually into force in many European countries mostly because of the increasing weight of building leakage energy impact on the overall energy performance of low-energy buildings. Therefore, airtightness levels of new buildings have significantly improved in the last decade. However, rather limited expertise is available as regards the durability of building airtightness at mid- and long-term scales.
Cooking is a major source of indoor contaminants, including moisture, odors and particles. Proper venting of cooking activities is an essential part of providing acceptable indoor air quality in homes. This webinar will discuss kitchen venting, including measurements of contaminants that are emitted from cooking, discussions of kitchen exhaust ventilation system performance and guidance on best practices for kitchen ventilation.
