residential

The energy performance of new and existing residential buildings needs to be radically improved to meet ambitious climate change goals and residential buildings are by far the largest component in the total building stock. A central boundary condition in constructing energy efficient buildings is doing so while maintaining a healthy, acceptable and desirable indoor environment.

Single-family and low-rise multifamily homes in the United States have become tighter to save energy and enhance comfort. To ensure acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ), mechanical ventilation is also required. As these systems become commonplace in the U.S., various improvements and updates have been made to codes, standards, and voluntary programs such as ASHRAE Standard 62.2, International Mechanical Code, International Residential Code, USEPA Energy Star Home and Indoor Air Plus, and USDOE Zero Energy Ready Homes. 

AIVC's Ventilation Information Paper #44: Residential Cooker Hoods,  summarizes current knowledge on cooking contaminant emissions, its effects on IAQ, and identifies standards for assessing the efficacy of cooker hood (also known as a range hood) performance.

A smart ventilation system is generally equipped with a range of sensors. The data – or data derived from it - collected by these sensors can be used by both building owners, occupants and managers. A new generation of IoT  enabled residential ventilation systems allows collecting and analysing this data at scale to get a better view on typical IAQ conditions in dwellings. In this paper, the results from such an analysis on the first 900 installed devices of a new model with respect to moisture in relatively new Belgian dwellings is presented. 

The Arctic environment is challenging for housing ventilation and heating systems. Energy consumption and demand for space heating for northern remote community residential buildings are very high. Airtight built northern homes require energy efficient and effective ventilation systems to maintain acceptable indoor air quality and comfort, and to protect the building envelope from moisture damage.

Indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been used for decades to evaluate indoor air quality (IAQ) and ventilation. However, many of these applications reflect a lack of understanding of the connection between indoor CO2, ventilation rates and IAQ. In particular, a concentration of 1800 mg/m3 (1000 ppmv) has been used as a metric of IAQ and ventilation without an appreciation of its basis or application.

In-situ performance of mechanical humidity-based mechanical exhaust ventilation (RH-MEV) is characterized in this study. This ventilation system includes fully-mechanical air inlets in the dry rooms and exhaust units in the wet rooms: the extensions and retractions of a hygroscopic fabric modify their cross-sections upon hygrometric changes in their environment without the need for motors or electronic sensors. 

Energy performance of buildings has been continuously and systematically improved in Europe with next step of transition to nearly zero energy buildings (NZEB) in 2019-2021. Well insulated and airtight NZEB provide challenges or opportunities – depending on point of view – for ventilation systems. Heat recovery ventilation may be expected to be major ventilation solution because in Continental and Nordic climates, it is simply impossible to build nearly zero energy buildings without heat recovery.

A heat recovery ventilator (HRV) is used to create a balanced ventilation system in residential buildings and as an energy-saving measure. HRVs bring in outside air which is tempered with outgoing stale air, with only the small energy penalty of the blower power to overcome the pressure drop in the HRV. HRVs have been used in cold climates and have often performed poorly due to frosting failure.