VIP

Building ventilation has been covered by French regulations for many years.
Attention is paid to the general design of ventilation systems, air flow rates, energy consumption due to air renewal and fans, air tightness of building envelope and ventilation ducts, noise, fire risks.

However there exists a large need for improved information and training of all the actors in the construction process, in order to increase buildings quality in the framework of this changing regulations landscape.

Attention for and implementation of ventilation systems is a relatively new phenomena in Belgium (where the three Regions are in charge of regulations related to ventilation).
It is clear that the energy performance regulations are a major driver for change.

A specific feature of the Belgian legislation is a rather strict control scheme.
In order to stimulate the market uptake of innovative systems, a legal and technical framework is in development.

This Information Paper has been written in the framework of the Building AdVent project and reviews recent changes in the Building Regulations in England and Wales introduced in 2006 to facilitate the implementation of the EPBD.
The paper covers changes in building ventilation and energy performance including envelope air tightness and duct air leakage considerations.

This VIP focuses on best practice, as well as challenges, for the conditioning of the indoor environment in passenger aircraft cabins, and their implications from a ventilation stand-point.
This article is based largely on findings from EU’s FP5 project “CabinAir”.
In early commercial jet aircraft, passenger cabins were ventilated with 100 % outside air. In more recent jet aircraft, approximately 50 % of the ventilation air is outside air and the remaining 50 % is filtered recirculated cabin air.

The 2nd European BlowerDoor Symposium “Airtight building envelope, thermography and dwelling-ventilation” took place on the16th and 17th March 2007 in Kassel, Germany. 150 participants from 13 European nations and 20 companies took part in the symposium and the trade fair. The contributions came from Belgium, Germany, Finland, Greece, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

The European Directive 2002/91/EC on the energy performance of buildings (the EPBD) imposes to the EU member states several different measures to achieve a more rational use of energy resources and to reduce the environmental impact of the energy use for buildings (see also VIP 9).

Ceiling fans are one of the more credible techniques to decrease the energy consumption for air conditioning and improve comfort. Historically, ceiling fans have first emerged in hot humid climates and have become more and more popular in certain parts of the world from the early decades of the last century.

Existing thermal comfort standards and methods cover mainly thermal comfort conditions under steady state conditions. Most of the thermal comfort studies have been carried out in laboratories and are based on evaluations of the heat transfer between the human beings and their environment and of the required physiological conditions for thermal comfort.

The present Ventilation Information Paper aims to present the basic knowledge on the use of earth to air heat exchangers. The increased need for air conditioning has made alternative passive and hybrid cooling techniques very attractive.

An intentional or accidental large-scale airborne toxic release (e.g. terrorist attacks or industrial accidents) can cause severe harm to nearby communities. Under these circumstances, taking shelter in buildings can be an effective emergency response strategy. Some examples where shelter-in-place was successful at preventing injuries and casualties have been documented. As public education and preparedness are vital to ensure the success of an emergency response, many agencies have prepared documents advising the public on what to do during and after sheltering.