In the Danish building sector, environmental management is currently being introduced in three areas: design, construction and operation of buildings. This innovation is based on development programmes, some of which are in progress, while others have been completed in the last few years. Dissemination and incorporation of the results of these programmes are being closely monitored. Common to all the development programmes is a requirement that employers and companies formulate an environmental policy describing attitudes, goals, priorities and organisation.
Annex 31 is a multinational project to support researchers engaged in determining how to measure the effects of buildings on their immediate, regional and global environments. Fourteen member countries of the International Energy Agency's (lEA) Implementing Agreement on Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems are involved in the work, divided into 8 tasks.
How should environmental profiles be used for construction materials? An environmental profile is a graphical presentation of environmental burdens. The concept may be used to present the results from a number of different stages within an LCA. The most effective use of profiles for materials and products in buildings has yet to be established; whether they should present raw data or data which have been interpreted and to what stage in the life of the material they should be applied.
Escalating global environmental deterioration is due in significant part to buildings' share of total environmental burdens - ranging from 15 to 45% of the eight major environmental stressor categories. Therefore, improved building environmental performance could substantially reduce harmful anthropogenic environmental impacts. Previous efforts to address buildings' environmental impacts often lack a science-based approach and claims of "sustainability" or "green design" are often unsupported.
This paper presents the results from the monitoring of a low energy building, namely, the Portland Building University of Portsmouth - UK) during February and July 1997. The BMS Research Group at the University of Portsmouth has instrumented the building so that its performance can be compared with the predictions obtained at the design stage. The Building has been operational since July 1996 and the monitoring exercise commenced in January 1997. Sensors monitor air temperature, air relative humidity and slab temperature in selected areas of the building.
Perceived barriers restricting the implementation of natural or simple fan assisted ventilationsystems in the design of new office type buildings and in the refurbishment of existing suchbuildings have been identified in seven central and north European countries with moderate orcold climate: United Kingdom, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden andDenmark.The barriers were identified in an in-depth study with structured interviews based onquestionnaires among leading designers and decision makers: architects, consultant engineers,contractors, developers, owners and governme
There are certain conditions which are of interest when designing for natural ventilation ofcommercial buildings. These are:- summer cooling- indoor air quality in winter- night-time cooling.For the first two conditions it is necessary to determine the distribution of open areas to givethe desired distribution of flow rates. Since one is dealing with openings whose position andbasic geometry are known, the problem is relatively simple compared to general ventilationproblems.
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