Belgium

AIVC's Ventilation Information Paper #45.4 summarizes current knowledge on trends in building and ductwork airtightness in Belgium.

A recorded presentation covering this topic is also available at this link.

Traffic sources contribute a large portion of the ambient nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and ozone concentrations, the three ambient air pollutants with the largest impact on human health in Europe (EEA, 2018). High spatial resolution air quality data capturing the high spatial variability of this traffic related pollution are necessary in order to inform policy. The approach of environmental protection agencies around the world to measure using expensive monitoring stations allows monitoring in high temporal, but not spatial, resolution (Snyder et al., 2013).

Smartness is all around us. The HVAC industry is developing more and more products that have sensors, are intelligent, are connected to the Internet and are being controlled via apps. According to a recent European survey among installers, the request and demand from clients for installing home automation and smart products is the highest for HVAC installations. 

Performance based approached for ventilation started to be used in Belgium in 2008 in the context of EP regulation. Until 2015, demand controlled ventilation (DCV) systems were considered as “innovative” products and were not directly taken into account in the EP calculation method. Their energy performance was then considered through a principle of equivalency. A first performance based approach was developed in this frame.  

HVAC systems in newly built or extensively renovated dwellings were all developed with the aim for energy saving with equal or better comfort. However, these systems (floor heating and DCV systems) have certain characteristics which increase the emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and give VOCs the chance to accumulate to higher concentrations. This interaction is investigated based on dynamic simulations using a temperature and humidity dependent VOC emission model. 

Due to the increasingly stringent energy efficiency requirements, timber frame houses are becoming more and more popular across Europe. Since wood is an organic material, susceptible to mould growth and wood rot, an effective moisture control strategy is required to keep the moisture levels inside the building components to an acceptable level. Moisture related problems may affect the health of the inhabitants, or even jeopardize the building’s structural integrity.

A smart ventilation system is generally equipped with a range of sensors. The data – or data derived from it - collected by these sensors can be used by both building owners, occupants and managers. A new generation of IoT  enabled residential ventilation systems allows collecting and analysing this data at scale to get a better view on typical IAQ conditions in dwellings. In this paper, the results from such an analysis on the first 900 installed devices of a new model with respect to moisture in relatively new Belgian dwellings is presented.