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The objective of Subtask 4 in the IEA EBC Annec 68 was to integrate knowledge and results from remaining Subtasks and present them in the context with current knowledge. The focus of the Subtask 4 was on practitioners dealing with ensuring high Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in modern low-energy residences, the demands and challenges they meet during daily work. This especially includes architects and ventilation designers, facility managers, property developers and employees of public authorities. This publication is a result of Subtask 4’s work.

Substantial energy is used to condition the air that enters California homes through leaks in the building envelope and ductwork - typically about a third of all heating and cooling. Reducing this through air sealing is essential to California achieving zero energy homes. However, this outdoor air also dilutes pollutants emitted inside homes and contributes to a healthy indoor environment and acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ). To address this IAQ issue, California’s Title 24 Building Standards have required mechanical ventilation in new homes since 2008.

The objective of present work was to develop the metric that assess the performance of solutions securing high indoor air quality in low-energy (modern) residential buildings. This was achieved by summarizing data on the levels and types of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter in low-energy buildings and comparing them with the existing exposure limits for pollutants.

Because buildings are responsible for 40% of energy use and 36% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the EU, energy efficiency in buildings has become a priority to drastically reduce the energy use in buildings. Consequently, a number of policy measures have been implemented in European Member States to drive the market towards Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings, including the Energy Performance of Buildings Certificates (EPCs), which are the most visible instrument of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

The objective of this study was the development of a new test method for portable indoor air cleaners.

There exists a significant body of literature on energy and indoor air quality impacts of envelope leakage. In fact, this topic has been studied since the 70s and has lead to many publications, in particular within the Air Infiltration Centre established in 1979 that has become the Air Infiltration and Ventilation Center (AIVC) since 1987.

This study is about the effectiveness of the indicated ventilation measures in the day-to-day operations of three types of hospitality businesses:

Our lack of understanding of the health risks related to air pollutants exposure in buildings is perceived as a major deficiency, even though 80% of our time is spent indoors. In this context the Observatory on Indoor Air Quality (OQAI) has been set up by the French authorities to collect data on population exposure to indoor pollutants in various indoor environments (dwellings, schools, offices, sports and leisure centers, etc.) to be used for public policies development. Accordingly, OQAI undertook a national survey on indoor air quality in dwellings with a four-fold objective: 

Air tightness is an important property of building envelopes. It is a key factor in determining infiltration and related wall-performance properties such as indoor air quality, maintainability and moisture balance.
Air leakage in U.S. houses consumes roughly 1/3 of the HVAC energy but provides most of the ventilation used to control IAQ.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been gathering residential air leakage data from many sources and now has a database of more than 100,000 raw measurements.