EU

The concentration of carbon dioxide is used as an important index of indoor air quality representative of body odor or bioeffluents in Japan. In the construction field of Japan, there is a CO2 concentration standard of a thousand ppm or less. However, property of occupants (such as sex, age and nationality) has non-nogligiblw effect on the room odor environment. Thus the standard of ventilation air volume should be decided suiting up for building use and occupants.

Product connectivity makes products and systems remotely controllable and possibly interoperable with other devices in the house. 
The most common way to achieve this interoperability is to connect these devices locally. On the other hand, products may also be cloud-connected, which allows an easier and seamless interoperability between devices. Hence, data are collected and stored in the cloud. As soon as the measured data is sent to the cloud, large set of data are available and can be anonymously retrieved and statistically analyzed. 

Buildings represent a major end use of energy throughout the world and are typically the dominant sector for electricity.   The use of that energy is to provide buildings services, the most important of which is Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ).  Heating and air conditioning systems typically handle the thermal comfort aspects of IEQ; the energy impacts and economics of such systems is well studied.  The most important remaining aspect of IEQ is Indoor Air Quality (IAQ).

Indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been used for decades to purportedly evaluate indoor air quality (IAQ) and ventilation. However, many applications of CO2 as a metric have reflected a lack of understanding of the connection between indoor CO2 levels, ventilation and IAQ. In many cases, an indoor concentration of 1800 mg/m3 (1000 ppmv) has been used as a metric of IAQ and ventilation without understanding its basis or significance.

Advancing energy efficient renovation solutions in buildings necessitate adopting high-insulation and airtightness to avoid heat loss through transmission and infiltration, which can result in overheating. Elevated indoor temperatures have a highly negative effect on building occupants’ health, wellbeing and productivity. With the possibility of remote working, people spend more time at home, and therefore addressing the elevated indoor temperatures and the overheating risks in residential buildings proves to be essential.

The interest in phase change materials (PCMs) as a solution for thermal energy storage has been growing for the last decades. It is clear that PCMs are promising for reducing the summer heat peaks without increasing the energy demand for cooling. A new modular, reversible, lightweight retrofitting system was developed and integrated in a real size experimental test cell.

Controlled Natural Ventilation (CNV) is one of the potential most effective passive cooling technique to reduce cooling needs of buildings in temperate-hot climate zones. However, a correct balance amid internal heat capacity, thermal insulation, and net opening area is important to achieve optimal results. The present paper shows results from an original simulation process carried out within the Course “ICT in building design” of the Master degree programme ICT4SS (ICT for smart societies) at the Politecnico di Torino.

Occupants control indoor environments to meet their individual needs for comfort. The control of window is the most common natural ventilation method influencing indoor environment as well as the energy use of the buildings to maintain a suitable environment. Therefore a better understanding of window control behaviour of the occupants has significant implication to enhance occupant comfort with minimal energy consumption. The objective of this study was to identify an appropriate algorithm and variables to develop a predictive model for window control.

Balanced ventilation units are well known to provide a sufficient amount of fresh air in residential buildings in a controlled way, without relying on ever-changing naturally driven forces. During colder periods, heat recovery ensures a reduction of the ventilation heating load. Outside the colder periods, recovery is reduced or shut off automatically, providing mechanical ventilative cooling. During warmer periods, the recovery is used again to provide a comfortably cool supply of fresh air.

Earlier field measurements in Low Energy Buildings have shown that excess temperatures can easily occur during summertime in well-insulated houses, also in northern part of Europe. If a ground source heat pump is used for heating and there is a bidirectional ventilation system, the borehole can be used for free cooling in summertime and the chilled air can be distributed by the ventilation system. In this study, a simulation of a single family nZEB located in the Swedish city Gothenburg was conducted.