English

Examines the difficulties of ensuring occupant comfort in challenging climates and less developed areas of the world such as the Galapagos. Temperatures can reach 30 deg C, but rarely go lower than 18 deg C, so no heating is needed. Describes the offices of the Galapagos National Park Service, built largely with low thermal mass and no insulation. Air conditioning and air movement depend on a filter-down effect from a single office.

The research project had the following objectives: document the development of a building envelope retrofit strategy for a high rise apartment building; monitor, assess and document the performance of a high-rise apartment building envelope retrofit withrespect to heat, air and moisture control; assess the degree to which the monitoring protocol can be implemented as part of regular operation and maintenance activities for new and existing building; and assess the potential for the development of a commercially viable, building envelope performance monitoring protocol.

The project is a survey of 12 'off-grid' households across Canada. The objective was to document off-grid energy use and lifestyle patterns to determine if there are lessons or examples of energy conservation that apply to conventional grid-connected houses. The houses operate on systems using renewable energy as the primary source of electricity. An airtightness test was performed on 10 houses (two houses were not viable for testing because of renovations).

Reviews the use of spray-polyurethane-foam insulation in buildings and discusses how their characteristics influence their field performance. Recommends that when used as an air barrier, polyurethane foam may crack on joints subjected to shrinkage or by structural deflection. To maintain the integrity of the air barrier, one should attach a strip of peel-and-stick membrane to both sides of the joint.

Reviews the results of IRC research on some key factors that influence the performance of a ventilation system in large buildings. It discusses the effects of these factors and provides guidelines for operating the system efficiently. Improving the airtightness of older buildings will reduce air leakage and cold drafts, and help reduce energy use by improving the performance of ventilation systems.

The Field and Laboratory Emision Cell (FLEC) was presented for the first time at the Healthy Buildings Conference in 1991. The FLEC is now used worldwide for many different applications that are related to emission testing of building products. Several labelling schemes are now on the market using both the FLEC and more classic climate chambers to fulfil the increasing demand for more indoor environmentally friendly building products.

In order to explain the effect of ventilation systems, the article presents the results of investigations made on a simulation program to calculate the temperature, heat loads, ventilation rates and indoor air quality. The study considered the Japanese daily schedule and the residents behaviour in regard to maintaining comfort. The indicators of indoor air quality were taken to be carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde concentrations. Three systems were analysed: basic passive ventilation system, a passive stack ventilation system and a mechanical ventilation system.

Describes how a nodal model was developed intended to represent room heat transfer in displacement ventilation and chilled ceiling systems. Precalculated air flow rates were used to predict the air temperature distribution and the division of the cooling load between the ventilation air and the chilled ceiling. A network of ten air nodes is used to separately represent the air movements in the plumes and the rest of the room. Calculation of the capacity rate parameters is done by solving the heat and mass balance equations for each node using measured temperatures.

Simulates a kitchen for a study of indoor air quality. An extractive FTIR technique was used to measure combustion products from unflued combustion from a gas cooker in a ventilated room. On a comparison of the results with those from conventional instruments, the FTIR technique showed good agreement. The study incorporated the obscuring of the spectrum due to the effects of H2O and carbon dioxide and detection limits. The conditions in the room were investigated using CFD.

States that when used with ice storage systems, cold air distribution systems are popular since they require less operating and capital costs. Stresses the importance of a consideration of occupant comfort. The study looked at air circulation and temperature distribution in a room, considering different orientation, velocities and sizes of jet for a given vertical location of air inlet and outlet on opposing walls. A control volume method was used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations and an energy equation in two dimensional rectangular Cartesian coordinates.