In this paper, measurement and simulation results are presented that demonstrate the energy performance of a recently built ecological house in Helsinki, Finland. The space heating energy consumption was measured to be 76 kWh/(m 2 ?a) of which 29% was provided by wood. For comparison, Finnish houses typically consume 120 kWh/(m 2 ?a) or nearly 60% more energy for space heating. The total energy consumption (121 kWh/(m 2 ?a)) and electricity consumption (28 kWh/(m 2 ?a)) were quite low.
This paper illustrates the airtightness and ventilation performance of a recently built ecological house in Helsinki, Finland. The wood frame house, which is built with no plastic vapour retarder, has a satisfactory air tightness (3 ach at 50 Pa). The ventilation measurements show that the outdoor ventilation rate provided by the natural ventilation system tended to be lacking (i.e., less than the required value of 0.5 ach) even though the measured CO2 concentrations were generally satisfactory (i.e., below 1000 ppm) when the bedroom doors were open.
This paper presents a passive design strategy where thermal comfort is achieved by engaging the occupants to define their own comfort condition and vary the quality of the space according to their needs. Two naturally ventilated houses in South Australia designed with this approach were tested and their actual performance documented. The results showed that most of the time the houses were always comfortable without any assistance from active systems.
Wind access/protection in cities can be affected by the morphological characteristics of the built environment. Town-planning legislation, building codes and city plan regulations influence those characteristics. Substantial climate-responsive changes of such laws and by-laws as well as simplified environmental performance evaluation tools can contribute to the reduction of mechanical ventilation and air conditioning energy loads through natural ventilation-proned urban design.
The office workers in Bangkok are accustomed to their environments of a hot-humid climate, resulting in a wider range of acceptable temperatures and higher comfort zone than the recommendation in moderate climate countries. This gives the possibility to use natural ventilation as a tool to provide occupants preference and comfort zone in office buildings, considering a short time experience.
Many buildings under construction or renovation today require a smoke-control system, either to gain building regulations approval or, to protect the building, its contents and occupants, and to offer assurance of business continuity in case of fire. Traditionally natural rather than powered smoke ventilation systems have been preferred. The article considers why this has been the case, and covers failsafe operation, self compensating, quiet operation and cost effectiveness.
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