Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 10:50
In residential buildings, the indoor air quality can be significantly affected by ventilation measures initiated by occupants, including the operation of windows and in-unit exhaust fans in kitchens and bathrooms. The outcome of these measures can be highly variable and difficult to accurately characterize in building simulation frameworks. Consequently, many simulations simplify these factors by disregarding window opening behaviours and using fixed schedules for exhaust fan operation across all residential units.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 10:50
This study aims to investigate the impact of changing residential user behaviour after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 on indoor health and comfort conditions. In this context, user behaviour-focused studies conducted before 2020, the year of the pandemic, and behavioural patterns that changed with the pandemic will be discussed comparatively.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Mon, 01/13/2025 - 17:08
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have expressed the need for practical ventilation guidelines to maintain acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ) in the public care sector, where vulnerable groups reside. The aim of this paper is to establish such guidelines dedicated to old and newly built psychological care homes and child day care centres in Flanders (Belgium). For each sector, a representative simulation model was designed in Modelica.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Mon, 01/13/2025 - 15:11
Smart ventilation in residential buildings has gained rising attention recently for the benefits of reducing energy consumption and improving indoor environmental quality. This paper presents a review of the smart ventilation in residential buildings papers published from January 2017 to August 2023, as a continuation of (Guyot, Sherman, and Walker 2018) who reviewed the publications in this area up to 2016. A systematic approach was used following the PRISMA protocol.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Mon, 01/13/2025 - 11:35
In many countries, the traditional method of ventilating dwellings involved natural ventilation, based on the operation of windows and high levels of infiltration through the building envelope, particularly through windows and window-wall joints. In Spain, in the middle of the last century, the use of vertical ventilation shafts in the wet rooms of dwellings became widespread, and it is currently the most common ventilation system in existing dwellings.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Thu, 03/07/2024 - 10:56
This paper presents the results of an Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) monitoring study (including relative humidity, temperature and IAQ in terms of indoor CO₂) in naturally ventilated dwellings (mainly based on vertical shafts and infiltrations) and the analysis of the data obtained. The aim of the study is to identify patterns that relate occupants’ ventilation behaviour to outdoor temperature and to increase knowledge of occupant’s perceptions of IEQ. The results could be used to improve ventilation models and building regulations.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Wed, 03/06/2024 - 15:22
Elderly people residing in nursing homes spend a vast majority of their times indoors and often in common recreation areas, to allow for socialization and interaction. Elderly people are a vulnerable age group. Hence, it is essential to provide them with good breathable air quality during these common activities and reduce cross contamination through ventilation. Prolonged exposures of elderly to contaminants may adversely affect their health, quality of life and increase medical expenditures due to frequent hospitalizations.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Wed, 03/06/2024 - 15:16
Computational predictions of buildings' indoor-environmental conditions and energy performance would presumably benefit from the inclusion of models that could reliably capture occupants' window operation behaviour. Frequently, models derived from empirical data have a black-box character. However, the utility of window operation models could be conceivably improved, if the model derivation process is preceded by specific hypotheses regarding the variables that are assumed to influence the frequency and timing of window operation actions.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Tue, 03/05/2024 - 14:33
Heatwaves are extreme events that will become more frequent and intense with climate change. Maintaining a comfortable and healthy indoor environment becomes crucial during these periods. The occupants are not just passive individuals who undergo the evolution of their environment. They can act to ensure their thermal comfort, in particular by opening or closing windows in summer.
Submitted by Maria.Kapsalaki on Wed, 01/29/2020 - 11:57
The opening of windows can lead to high energy losses in wintertime, especially in nearly zero-energy buildings. But can reduce overheating significantly in summertime. Therefore, window use models have been created in the past to assess the energy use and thermal comfort in residential buildings. The models are mostly based on weather-variables. However, a recent study (Verbruggen, Janssens, et al. 2018) indicated that these models were not able to accurately predict the window use in wintertime. For that reason, an occupancy and activity based model was developed.