LoginDiscusses strategy for dealing with indoor air pollution in office and similar buildings, including verification of the mechanical ventilation system, measurement of building pressure, problems due to stack effect, presence of moisture.
Bibliographic database Airbase
AIRBASE is the Bibliographic Database of the AIVC. It contains publications and abstracts of articles related to energy efficient ventilation. Where possible, sufficient detail is supplied in the bibliographic details for users to trace and order the material via their own libraries. Topics include: ventilation strategies, design and retrofit methods, calculation techniques, standards and regulations, measurement methods, indoor air quality and energy implications etc. Entries are based on articles and reports published in journals, internal publications and research reports, produced both by university departments and by building research institutions throughout the world. AIRBASE has grown and evolved over many years (1979 to present day, over 22000 references and 16000 documents available online). For most of the references, the full document is also available online.
The AIVC website includes a protected content feature that provides access to AIRBASE. Access to the protected content is free of charge but requires you to register first.
Gives basic facts about indoor air pollution for homeowners. Lists common indoor air pollutants and guidelines for generally acceptable levels of selected air contaminants. Some suppliers of measurement equipment are mentioned.
Summarises the issues discussed at the Indoor Air '84 conference in Stockholm. The main topics include sick buildings, organic compounds, formaldehyde, combustion products, and radon.
Concentrates on low energy housing construction in Scandinavia, and Sweden in particular, where typical new detached houses with a floor area of 140 m2 now use less energy for space heating than water heating.
Describes a five month study which measured radon concentration, air exchange (ventilation) rate, weather and radon source parameters in a house near Chicago. Factors influencing radon entry rate were investigated.
The aerodynamic forces affecting wind and rain penetration of roofs are described.
Describes the first stage of a project to study domestic background leakage.
The air infiltration component of house ventilation is calculated and discussed in relation to winter space heat losses and rneasures necessary to control moisture.
Pacific Power and Light Company and Battelle PNW Laboratories have completed a project which investigated residential ventilation rates.
A passive ventilation system has been installed in four new houses: it comprises simple ducts which lead up from the kitchen and bathroom to outside near the house ridge and utilise the wind and the temperature difference between inside and outsid
Natural ventilation rates in bedrooms at night have been measured in retrofitted apartments. The measurements indicate clearly that air quality in bedrooms may be unacceptable in dwellings with an energy-efficient minimal ventilation rate.
The effects of operating unvented appl i ances and opening windows on indoor pollutant levels and air exchange rates are being studied under the sponsorship of the Gas Research Institute.
For more than two years a series of detailed air infiltration measurements have been conducted over the complete yearly weather cycle on two identical side-by-side test houses in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA.
The multiple tracer gas technique developed at UMIST has been applied to the measurement of roof-space ventilation rates and house to roof-space air movement, for various types and combinations of roof-space ventilation.
A Compact Equipment for Survey of Air Renewal (CESAR) was developed at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.
It is often stated that advanced ventilation or air conditioning is expensive or energy-wasting. There are, however, several examples of highly energy-efficient air conditioning systems in industrial, commercial and public buildings.
Ventilation can be advantageous as opposed to adventitious and, with careful building design, can eliminate the need for air conditioning in summer.
The increasing awareness that indoor air quality aspects may restrict energy conservation by infiltration and ventilation measures has led to extensive investigations of different ventilation strategies.
The performance of whole-house mechanical ventilation systems was explored in an full-scale indoor test house (volume 176 m³ ) .