VC

The work evaluates the applicability of façade-integrated ventilation systems in a Nordic climate. For this purpose the state of the art of façade-integrated ventilation (FIV) and demands for ventilation system in Norway and criteria for an comprehensive evaluation are identified. In this framework agreements between national requirements and system-specific performance are assessed. The evaluation investigates indoor environment and comfort with focus on aspects of indoor air quality.

Previous studies have demonstrated that in summertime increased air velocities can compensate for higher room temperatures to achieve comfortable conditions. In order to increase air movement, windows opening, ceiling or desk fans can be used at the expense of relatively low energy consumption.

The present study describes the potential improvement of summer comfort and reduction of energy consumption that can be achieved by adopting passive cooling solutions, such as daytime comfort ventilation with increased air velocities and night cooling, in domestic buildings. By means of the IDA ICE based software EIC Visualizer, the performances of ten ventilation and cooling strategies have been tested in four different climatic zones across Europe (Athens, Rome, Berlin and Copenhagen).

Thermal comfort is a subjective term, closely related to the sensation of warm or cold for the occupants, defining the state of mind of humans that expresses satisfaction with the surrounding environment. Since we spend more than 90% of our time inside buildings or vehicles, achieving a good thermal quality of this enclosed environment is vital. An optimal thermal comfort prediction can lead to „bien-être”, efficiency in our work, unaltered health and even energy economy.

The need for thermal comfort and clean air for occupants in buildings or vehicles is vital since we spend more than 90% of our time inside these enclosed environments. Worldwide, current directions of the leading powers are oriented towards the reduction of the energy consumptions and HVAC systems make no exception. Personalized Ventilation (PV) applied to buildings may represent a solution to this problem. The main idea of PV is to provide clean air close to the face of each occupant and to improve thermal comfort in his microenvironment.

The new Nicosia Town-hall is a very particular building. On the site where it is built, important antiquities were discovered during the first day of construction and the whole design was completely modified to fit to the new situation. The archaeologists continued to excavate 2/3 of the entire site and created an archaeological park in the centre of the town. The building area was constraint to the remaining land, and co-exists with the uncovered findings.

Low energy buildings, being highly insulated, are subject to important overheating risks. Thermal simulation as well as experimental studies have shown the large potential of ventilative cooling. One barrier against this approach is the difficulty of evaluating air flows. Appropriate calculation methods and characterization of openings are needed, so that these systems can be dealt with in design, regulation and certification tools.

Natural ventilation and dynamic temperature simulation of buildings was until now a priviledge of highly skilled building physicists. Combined simulation of both is even rarer. 

The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of the selective ventilation in the thermal performance of modern naturally-ventilated houses built in the 1950’s and 1960’s in Goiânia, located in middle-west of Brazil. The selective ventilation is one of the passive thermal conditioning strategies recommended for buildings located in this city, in the summer.

Natural ventilation is increasingly considered a promising solution to improve thermal comfort in buildings, including schools. However in order to support its planning and implementation, quantitative analysis on airflow paths and heat-airflow building interactions are needed. This requires an adequate accounting of both internal effects, from building layout and structure, and external forcings from atmospheric factors.