Performance of smart ventilation in residential buildings: a literature review

Smart ventilation in residential buildings has gained rising attention recently for the benefits of reducing energy consumption and improving indoor environmental quality. This paper presents a review of the smart ventilation in residential buildings papers published from January 2017 to August 2023, as a continuation of (Guyot, Sherman, and Walker 2018) who reviewed the publications in this area up to 2016. A systematic approach was used following the PRISMA protocol. Smart ventilation in residential buildings has been rapidly developed over the past seven years, compared to being an emerging technology prior to 2016. In total, 44 papers were analysed, which consisted of 22 journal articles and 22 conference papers. Belgium appears as the country with the most research activity in this field, followed by France, the United States, and Denmark. Most of these smart ventilation studies have been conducted via the simulation approach. Single-family dwellings and a unit in apartment buildings are the settings for most of the reviewed studies. The findings show the evolution of trends in smart ventilation over the years, in which health has emerged as an indicator for evaluating ventilation system performance. Furthermore, the new developments include performance-based assessment, decentralised ventilation, using data-driven methods to form control strategy, and the Internet of Things. Regarding indoor air quality, in addition to CO2 and relative humidity, new indicators have been applied, such as formaldehyde, PM2.5 and volatile organic compounds. The challenge related to the diversity of simulation model input data and the performance indicators was highlighted. Though the research in this area has rapidly grown, international collaborations are lacking, as is the field testing of the proposed strategies.