English

With its cool summers and ready supply of low-cost gas, the United Kingdom does not offer the most favourable economic conditions for the widespread application of heat pumps. However, environmental concerns have recently led to al1 increasing interest in heat pumps in this country. To find out more about this trend, the HPC asked EA Technology to report on the situation in the UK regarding C02 and CFC emissions, and on the impact this has on the application of heat pumps.

Richard Tully gives practical advice on ventilation requirements for underground car parks, emphasizing the need to remove fumes quickly from exit ramps where vehicles emit up to half as much carbon monoxide again as on the level.

Since the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, many countries are now committed to limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases. The HPC's analysis "The Impact of heat Pumps on the Greenhouse Effect" has suggested that heat pumps can make a major contribution towards meeting this commitment, especially with regard to the reduction of Carbon dioxide emissions.

The inventory of organics in the air of a ten year old office building shows a wide variety of natural and synthetical volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Although 240 employees consume 1200 - 1500 cigarettes per day, the effective ventilation system reduces the ETS rapidly, however, aromatic hydrocarbons and some natural compounds still remain in the air in the higher μg/m3-range. Systematic analyses of volatile compounds of all cleansers used shows that they are sources of higher limonene amounts. Aromatics entered by way of "fresh air'' intake near the parking entrance at street level.

The Majrovagen project is the result of a design competition, held by the City of Stockholm and the Swedish Council for Building Research in 1990. The competition is a part of the efforts made by the City to promote efficient energy use and healthy buildings. Efficient energy use will help reduce disruption to the environment, the need for new, expensive energy plants, and, not least, the energy costs of the inhabitants of Stockholm. Three different projects with mu It if amity houses of about 60 apartments each were chosen by a Jury to be built in the same area during 1993.

The aim of the study was to design and build a small house with 50% lower heating energy consumption than in typical existing Finnish small houses. Energy saving is based on three technologies: super insulation, airtight construction and ventilation heat recovery. The first monitoring results show the heating energy consumption of the house to be less than half of the measured consumption of typical small houses located in the same area. Also, the results show the air quality to be good.