A pilot questionnaire study was carried out on two groups: 128 occupants of new homes' (52 R-2000) on the one hand and 149 occupants of control homes on the other hand: both the groups were questionned to compare their general and respiratory health at occupancy and one year later. Symptom scores improved significantly over the year of occupancy for the occupants of energy efficient homes.
In January 2002, a new European project named HOPE (Health Optimization Protocol forEnergy-efficient Buildings) started with 14 participants from nine European countries. Thefinal goal of the project is to provide the means to increase the number of energy-efficientbuildings, i.e. buildings that are at the same time healthy and low energy users. Reducingenergy use by buildings also reduces CO2 emissions from primary energy used for ventilation,heating and humidity control.
A framework for performance criteria for healthy and energy-efficient buildings was developed within the context of two European funded Projects: PeBBu and HOPE.PeBBu, Performance-Based Building, is a Thematic network under the Competitive and Sustainable Growth programme, which started 1 September 2001 and will run for 4 years.
A Personalised Ventilation system provides occupants with means of adjusting their individualthermal environment and of achieving good indoor air quality. The individual control ofenvironmental variables makes it possible to compensate for the differences between people withregard to their requirements. In most tropical designs, the air-conditioning and mechanicalventilation system maintains the indoor spaces at cold temperatures in the vicinity of 21 C.
The quality of air in the indoor environment is dependent on the nature and source of indoorpollutants and the performance of the ventilation system. Increased dilution in a tropical contextimplies a high energy penalty. This paper presents a novel method of addressing IAQ and energyissues. An innovative energy efficient method and means of air-conditioning for an independentcontrol of temperature and humidity of two different air streams has been developed.
Air-conditioning and ventilation systems, which help to maintain the indoor environment ofbuildings, account for more than half of the energy consumed in them. While it is necessary toimprove the energy efficiency of buildings due to economic and environmental reasons, it isimportant to do so without compromising their indoor environment. Various optimizingstrategies for air-conditioning and ventilation systems that help to improve energy efficiencywhile enhancing the quality of the indoor environment of buildings are described in this paper.
The programme ‘Energy Audit’ has been worked out at the Energy Efficiency Centre of the Institute of Physical Energetics, LAS, and may be used for evaluation of heat losses from buildings and the economic efficiency of measures to be taken for their therm
A concept is investigated for the energy efficient control of residential mechanical ventilation in response to outdoor air temperature and the corresponding stack-driven infiltration. The control concept takes advantage of the natural air leakage characteristics of a house and the ability of temperature-driven stack infiltration to provide ventilation air to the house. As the outdoor to indoor temperature difference increases and natural infiltration increases, the fan operation is reduced, thereby minimizing over-ventilation.
The most efficient ventilation system would only operate on demand, when ventilation was "needed". Running the ventilation system all the time at a low flow rate, a rate sufficient to match the ASHRAE recommended 0.35 ACH is a crude control approach to an optimum system. Conditions in a house are not constant. On average, a constant flow rate ventilation system will work reasonably well and certainly is simple, but there are more energy efficient approaches, and users tend to shut down systems that run constantly.
The objective of the BRITA in PuBS proposal on Ecobuildings is an increasing of the market penetration of innovative and effective retrofit solutions to improve energy efficiency and implement renewables, with moderate additional costs.
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