The importance of natural ventilation, typically restricted to residential buildings application, is rapidly increasing also within the commercial buildings. This is mainly due to the energy savings expected from a reduction of the use of the forced ventilation. Moreover, the remote control of the indoors, provided by means of the intelligent buildings features, allows an easier management of the environmental quality. Furthermore, the indoor air quality is also directly affected by the air exchanges obtained by natural ventilation.
Under-estimating the ventilation flow rate results in increased sanitary risks and damage to the existing building structure. Over-estimating ventilation flow leads to energy waste. In this context, a number of approaches have been designed to determine indoor air quality indicators. The aim of these is to compare comfort and sanitary quality in different atmospheres. This document presents four air quality indicators developed by three French teams and one Danish team.We examine the strengths and weaknesses of each design, plus their specific areas of use.
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