English

We are presently working on problems associated with kindergartens which, with regard to indoor climate, are quite over populated. Typically, the kindergartens are around 300 m2 inarea and 700-1,000 m3 in volume, with 60-80 children, and withnatural ventilation only. The basic air change rate is 0.2-0.4 ach. As we have shown*, users have a tremendous impact on air infiltration which, in the kindergartens, rises from the basic 0.2-0.4 to 0.7-1.5 ach when the kindergarten is in use.

While the choice of reduction of transmission losses of a building to very low values is more or less only a question of economics, minimizing ventilation to reduce the heat loss may produce a lot of problems regarding air quality and building physics. This problem has not only been experienced in a great number of buildings in Germany, but it is also a problem common to all IEA member countries.

The test house is located in the Institute's laboratory hall. This new facility (see above) will mainly be used for the study of alternative ventilation strategies in tight houses. However it will also be used for basic air infiltration research. The main reason for building thehouse indoors, is to obtain a controlled environment both with regard to the ambient temperature and the flow rate of outdoor air supplied.

In Finland, there are three main topics in the field of air infiltration research: * simulation and measurement of air-leakage rates in building components and in buildings as a whole * airtightness and indoor air quality (thermal comfort) * thermal effects of air flow in building components. Goes on todiscuss aspects of air infiltration research in Finland.

Recent statistics1 show that the annual primary energy consumption per person in Japan is 31.0 Gcals (129.8 GJ). Almost 25% of this energy demand is divided equally among the commercial and residential sectors, with secondary energy usage per dwelling amounting to 8.3 Gcals (34.8 GJ). This value is aquarter of that of the United States and one half of that of European developed countries.

The Air Infiltration Centre is but one of many projects inaugurated by the International Energy Agency. This article presents some general information on the IEA and its energy conservation programme and gives details of three projects relating to air infiltration and ventilation in buildings.

IEA Annex 23 has been established in order to attempt to resolve these difficulties in relation to multizone air flow modelling. These models are used to evaluate the air flow between individual rooms or zones as well as the rate of inflow andoutflow of air from buildings. This approach is especially important for evaluating the adequacy of ventilation, predicting pollutant transport and evaluating airborne heat transfer between zones. Such models therefore have vital applications in both energy and air quality related analysis.