Long-term monitoring

The BENEFIT project evaluates the indoor environmental quality in non-domestic buildings where energy efficiency upgrades will be implemented; a baseline for indoor air quality hass been established across 50+ environments prior to the commencement of retrofit activities. Initial findings in pre-retrofit environments reveal widespread underventilation and the significant influence of outdoor PM2.5 levels indoors in existing classroom and office environments. Detailed pre-retrofit results will be presented at an upcoming conference. 

The BENEFIT project seeks to assess indoor environmental quality and occupant comfort in energy efficient non-domestic Irish buildings with the aim of developing ventilation guidelines for future retrofits and new builds. The project, in collaboration with SEAI’s Pathfinder programme, aims to conduct a comprehensive and scientifically robust assessment of the impacts of energy-efficient policies in non-domestic settings across Ireland, with a particular focus on newly constructed energy-efficient buildings.

Natural ventilation has the potential to provide cooling and fresh air and cut 40% of the total energy consumption of European office buildings. While in the milder seasons natural ventilation is an obvious low-energy choice, if poorly designed it can cause overheating in summer and poor air quality in winter. In order to promote the use and design of naturally ventilated (NV) buildings, it is therefore important to understand how current NV buildings perform in terms of thermal comfort and indoor air quality.