English

The architectural product is influenced by a series of more general economical aspects such as people’s living standard, which includes not only a relative stability of the prices but also that of the family income.Therefore, the architectural product muc

Goal of the study was to investigate the relation betweenthe level of ventilation and the performance of school children in classroomsIn one school in two classrooms the same ventilation system was installed. The two classrooms were located at the same faade. The system had a possibility of supplyingfull outside air to the classroom or the position with full recirculation of air.

The purpose of this work is to study numerically the indoorenvironmental conditions in an office. The indoor air quality status has already been studied experimentallyunder different indoor and outdoor conditions and it was found that indoor originated pollutants concentrations(CO2, PM10 and total VOCs) were elevated when smoking was taking place and the windows were kept closed.

A numerical analysis of the natural ventilation in greenhouseswas performed at no-wind and low-wind speeds with the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Imposed boundary conditions correspond to the average measured experimental values during a ten days period.Numerical predictions of the ventilation efficiency and microclimate distribution of an arch type tunnel greenhouse, a typical Mediterranean-type greenhouse were obtained for various ventilator configurations.

In order to limit ventilation losses in low-energy buildings,balance ventilation systems with high-efficiency heat recovery units are often used. However, the effectivenessof the heat recovery system may be severely affectedby envelope leakage as the system can be short-circuited by uncontrolled airflows. Therefore, limiting envelope leakage becomes a critical issue in such low-energy buildings.However, in a typical French house, air leakage through and around windows represents 15 to 70% of the total leakage airflow through the building envelope.

Global warming and fossil energy sources depletion represent an emergency at Planet scale. As a consequenceof the new regulations leading to lower energy demand in buildings for heating and cooling, new technologiessuch as ground source heat pump, are becomingmore and more popular in many parts of Europe,sometimes coupled with PV systems. Some solar thermal applications for heating (combi-systems) and cooling (solar assisted desiccant cooling systems) have also been developed in Europe and the interest in this area is growing.

In preparation of the implementation of the Energy Performanceof Buildings Directive (EPBD) the responsibleGerman Ministry has undertaken several actions includingthe developmentof a new energy performance calculationprocedure for non-residential buildings (DIN V 18599) and two field tests for the certificationof residential and non-residential buildings.This paper presents the main results of the evaluation of the field tests concerning the form and acceptance of the certificate,the necessary expertise of the issuers, the durationof the work, possible simplifications, etc.The second half o

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the design strategies for improving the summer thermal comfort conditions in a low-energy residential building located near Rome. The evaluated strategies include the natural air-flows through the windows: a) opening of windows for 24 hours and b) opening of windows during night hours only. The evaluations have been carried out by means of simulations using EnergyPlus building energy simulation programme.

In Asian countries under sultry climatic conditions includingJapan, natural ventilation and cross-ventilation at nighttime give very good effects on the improvement of physical conditions of the residents and on the coolingof the buildings in intermediate and summer seasons.However, a densely populated urban area such as Tokyo, sufficient ventilation flow rate may not be necessarily maintained because the distances between neighboring houses are shorter and also because of the problem to keep privacy of the residents between the windows, which are positioned face-to-face on wall surfaces.

Considering that natural ventilation is a climatic factor,a renewable alternative, as well as an important source of comfort, it seems to be relevant to consider its great potential when applied to architecture, taking into account economical and environmental gains. It is difficult to think about studying air circulation without mentioning the north Africa vernacular architecture and its ability to create the best solutions to increase the ventilation without any energy consumption, therefore, adopting passive cooling.