survey

A nationwide survey on indoor air quality will be set up in France in 2003-2004. The aim ofthe survey is to assess household exposure to indoor air pollutants. The target population isthe national housing stock of approximately 24 million permanently occupied housing units.A nationally representative sample of dwellings will be selected based on a three-stagesampling design. At the first stage, the Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) are categorized basedon French territorial divisions. The second stage of the design is the sampling of segmentswithin the PSUs.

The survey concerned three swimming pools using a similar type of basic water treatment, buthaving different structures and ventilation systems. The survey included measuring air currentvelocities above the pools and studying the microbiological and physico-chemical quality ofthe pool water. In addition, microbes were determined from the indoor air, structures andventilation systems, and airborne particles and volatile organic compounds from the indoor airsamples. The total particle concentration of the indoor air and their size distribution variedbetween the swimming pools.

VOCs concentration measurements in six hospitals were conducted, using passive samplers,in order to get outlined information on the IAQ. Most of the toluene, xylene, ethel benzeneand styrene concentrations obtained from 158 points were lower than the detected limit.Concentrations of formaldehyde and toluene measured at each point exceeded the guidelinevalues. Concentration of xylene obtained from two points also exceeded its guideline value.TVOC concentrations by in-depth measurements obtained from 53 points out of 55 werelower than the determination limit, 200g/m.

Before starting a French nationwide survey, a pilot study was conducted in 2001 on 90dwellings in three geographical areas (North, East and South of France). This survey includedmeasurements on 40 priority indoor parameters (VOC, NO2, CO, CO2, bacteria, moulds,allergens, MMMF, temperature, humidity) and questionnaires on building characteristics,occupants description and time activity diaries. The paper focuses on the chemical levelsfound in dwellings.

The goal of this study was the determination of the existing situation in houses with regard to air quality and energy used for ventilation in relation to the health of inhabitants. For the energy policy the Government is considering increased energy requirements for dwellings. They are permanently opposed in doing so by people who are concerned about negative health effect due to increased requirements on for instance air tightness of buildings. To have at least a reference point, they are interested in the existing situation.

This paper presents the results of a field study conducted on 8 houses (out of a set of 31) owned and managed by a French social housing public leasing company. The central objective of our investigation was to evaluate and characterize the envelope leakage of these houses in order to propose and prioritize rehabilitation scenarios. For this, envelope leakage measurements were performed together with infrared thermography measurements.

In order to facilitate nationwide analysis of ventilation and indoor air quality issues in residential buildings, a set of homes has been defined to represent the housing stock of the United States. This so-called 'suite of homes' is based on two residential housing surveys, the U.S. Department of Energy Residential Energy Consumptions Survey (RECS) and the U.S. Census Bureau American Housing Survey (AHS). The RECS dataset includes about 6000 U.S. residences and the AHS covers about 60000, and are both intended to periodically characterize the U.S. housing stock.

The Energy Conservation in Building and Community Systems program of the International Energy Agency has set up a research working group (Annex 40) on Commissioning of Building HVAC Systems for Improved Energy Performance. The objective of this new Annex is to develop, validate and document tools for commissioning buildings and building services. The paper describes the annex work which includes 5 tasks: 1) the commissioning process 2) manual commissioning tools 3) building energy management system assisted commissioning tools 4) use of models for ommissioning 5) commissioning projects.

In this paper, a literature survey on rectangular and round ventilation ducts is presented. The comparison is based on two important aspects: pressure drop and noise radiation. The pressure losses in the ductwork should be kept as low as possible without jeopardizing proper control of the flow rates in the system. Pressure loss through a rectangular duct is significant higher than a volumetrically equal round one. The higher the aspect ratio, the higher-pressure loss in the rectangular system.