ventilation

Where residential developments rely on opening windows to control overheating, there can be a compromise between allowing excessive noise ingress with windows open, or excessive temperatures with windows closed. This problem is exacerbated by the move towards better insulated, more airtight buildings and the need, particularly in urban areas, to consider development on noisier sites. A working group has been formed by the Association of Noise Consultants to provide guidance on acoustic conditions and design when considering both the provision of ventilation and prevention of overheating.

The adverse effect of various indoor pollutants on occupants’ health have been recognized. In public spaces flu viruses may spread from person to person by airflow generated by various traditional ventilation methods, like natural ventilation and mixing ventilation (MV Personalized ventilation (PV) supplies clean air close to the occupant and directly into the breathing zone. Studies show that it improves the inhaled air quality and reduces the risk of airborne cross-infection in comparison with total volume (TV) ventilation.

RenovActive is a renovation project which took place in Brussels based on the concept of Climate Renovation that implies achieving an excellent indoor climate as well as a high energy performance. The house belongs to a social housing association and is renovated within the financial frame for social housing in Brussels, and renovated using standard solutions and products to facilitate future replications of the result. Seven generic replicable elements were applied; these elements can be used in other renovation projects and are described in the paper.

Existing protocols for the inspection of mechanical residential systems poorly address both the assessment of uncertainties and recommendations or specifications for measurement methods and devices to be used to guarantee low measurement uncertainties. This paper gives the major elements of a new protocol developed within the Promevent project to overcome this problem. We have analyzed results from 180 airflow measurements performed in laboratory conditions in accordance with this protocol.

Since many years, several monitoring studies have shown that the quality and compliance of installed ventilation systems can be low. The recently developed Evaluation scheme in Belgium tries to tackle this problem, thanks to the mandatory Ventilation Performance Report of all new ventilation installations, to be delivered by a Ventilation Reporter recognised by a Third-Party control organisation. This factsheet describes the approach of this scheme, including the penalty scheme and the role of the actors involved.

Welcome to the 'Blue Pages'. This is where the Editorial Advisory Panel for Building Services Engineering Research and Technology publishes state-of-the-art articles on developments in building services engineering practice and research. The articles are very short, on one theme of current interest, and are edited by a guest editor rather than going through the longer refereeing process for conventional research papers. This is to encourage consultants and contractors to discuss their latest developments in a non-commercial manner.