English

Much has been said recently about healthy home environments. For many years anecdotal evidence has been collected about the improved health that residents in R-2000 homes have experienced. CW/Chas been promoting healthy home environment ideas through their Healthy House initiative. But is there scientific evidence behind claims that R-2000 homes are healthier for their occupants?

This study compares the characteristics of two tracer gases - sulphur hexafluoride (SF 6), and nitrous oxide (N20) – whose densities are different from that of air (i.e. 5.11 and 1.53, respectively). The study is based on exclusively experimental work; and concerns the behaviour of the two gases with regard to their distribution and dispersion in an experimental cell, incorporating into the comparison method an index that is intended to characterise the ventilation of an enclosed space, namely ventilation etfectiveness,

A study of test methods for duct leakage revealed that there is room for improvement in this evolving field.

A home with a poor duct system can't be energy efficient no matter how tight or well-insulated it is.

In a crowded building space with no air conditioning, heat and moisture emissions from occupants can result in heat stress in the indoor environment, which in turn, causes thermal strain on the human body. In the present paper, a 61-node thermoregulation model is coupled with a thermal environment model of ventilated space to simulate both the thermal conditions and occupant's responses. The coupling model is validated with experimental data at high occupant density in a thermal environmental chamber.