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This extended summary is a part of a more extensive summary (technote to be published) that compiles a number of AIVC publications that deal with ventilation and health in relation to moisture in air, and the development over time.

Japan is characterized by high humidity in summer and low humidity in winter. Therefore, summer is in a climatic condition where mold is easy to grow, and in fact, mold damage is occurring. Due to improvement of the thermal insulation and airtightness of houses, the temperature in the room is maintained high even in winter, and mold damage occurs. We will introduce the research we have conducted regarding humidity environment and health problems, and discuss future subjects. The outline is as follows. 

Due to the increasingly stringent energy efficiency requirements, timber frame houses are becoming more and more popular across Europe. Since wood is an organic material, susceptible to mould growth and wood rot, an effective moisture control strategy is required to keep the moisture levels inside the building components to an acceptable level. Moisture related problems may affect the health of the inhabitants, or even jeopardize the building’s structural integrity.

A smart ventilation system is generally equipped with a range of sensors. The data – or data derived from it - collected by these sensors can be used by both building owners, occupants and managers. A new generation of IoT  enabled residential ventilation systems allows collecting and analysing this data at scale to get a better view on typical IAQ conditions in dwellings. In this paper, the results from such an analysis on the first 900 installed devices of a new model with respect to moisture in relatively new Belgian dwellings is presented. 

ByggaF is a methodology for including moisture safety in the construction process that was developed and presented in 2007. ByggaF comprises methods to secure, document and communicate moisture safety throughout the construction process, from planning to management. The methods involve a standardized way of working designed to meet the demands of society and the client’s requirements for moisture safety.

People spend 70% -90% of their time indoors. Indoor air quality and human body’s health have a close relationship. With the advance of society, user comfort requirements for thermal environment are rising. Humidity is an important parameter for evaluating indoor air quality, which not only affects the thermal comfort of the human body but also seriously restricts the function of the building. In winter, the indoor humidity is dry. When using humidifier, the humidity around the humidifier is higher, but there is still a dry area in the room.

A demonstration house was previously built and commissioned in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada. The purpose of the overall effort is to evaluate the performance of a high-performance building located in the Canadian Arctic, while considering the unique social, economic and logistical challenges associated with its remote location. Previous work consisted of monitoring and reporting on the energy consumption due to heating between April 2016 and April 2017.

The Arctic environment is challenging for housing ventilation and heating systems. Energy consumption and demand for space heating for northern remote community residential buildings are very high. Airtight built northern homes require energy efficient and effective ventilation systems to maintain acceptable indoor air quality and comfort, and to protect the building envelope from moisture damage.

The work presented in this paper investigates frosting problem on high efficient air to air counter flow heat exchanger. The presented investigation consists of two main activities.  

Heat recovery ventilation (HRV) is one of the usual techniques (next to demand controlled) to reduce the energy impact of ventilation in buildings. For a given air change rate, the energy savings of HRV are in the first place dependent of the heat-exchanger efficiency, usually measured in standardized laboratory conditions. However, many other factors can have an impact on the overall system performance in practice.