BADA

In France, the current regulation on the energy performance of buildings (RT 2012) does not require ductwork airtightness measurement when the default-value is used in the regulatory EP-calculation. Thus, measurements are only mandated when a specific airtightness level is used in EP-calculations or required by a voluntary certification scheme. In such case, measurements have to be performed according to a national scheme regarding ductwork airtightness measurement.

The harsh Norwegian climate requires buildings designed according to high standards. The airtightness of the building envelope is crucial to attain an energy efficient building and to avoid moisture problems. A considerable part of building defects registered in the SINTEF Building defects archive are related to compact roofs.

This paper aims to present the elaboration of a device able to modify the airtightness of a test House. This project has been conducted with three Master student groups in the framework of their research projects from 2015 to 2017. The TIPEE IEQ test House, comprising of two floors and eight rooms, is dedicated to the study of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), thermal comfort and energy consumption. Its envelope has been designed to reach an airtightness target slightly lower than the French Energy Efficiency Standard RT2012 requirement for dwellings i.e.

Mandatory building airtightness testing has come gradually into force in the UK, France, Ireland and Denmark. It is considered in many other European countries because of the increasing weight of the energy impact of building leakage on the overall energy performance of low-energy buildings.
This study analyses recent developments in 10 Europeans countries on the following aspects:
- requirements regarding building airtightness in EP- regulation
- requirements in specific energy programmes
- airtightness testers schemes

This paper proposes a methodology to assess fan energy use savings when improving ductwork airtightness. This methodology is based on new standard FprEN 16798-5-1:2016. Unlike the classical "cube law", it considers pressure drops at air terminal devices separately from the pressure drops in the rest of the system.

It has already been proved that air leakage causes a great impact in the energy performance of buildings in cold climates. In recent years, many studies have been carried out in northern Europe, US and Canada. Regulations in these countries establish maximum air leakage rates for the construction of new dwellings and the refurbishment of the existing ones. However, there is a lack of knowledge relating to the housing stock in Spain.

An airtight building envelope ensures not only the energy-efficiency of a building, but also a damage free construction. Important to achieve optimal airtightness are the planning, implementation and materials. Long-term airtightness requires efforts in all three aspects. Airtightness products are being tested under lab conditions but these results cannot be transferred one-on-one onto buildings.

Mandatory building airtightness testing has come gradually into force in European countries mostly because of the increasing weight of building leakage energy impact on the overall energy performance of low-energy buildings. Therefore, airtightness level of new buildings has significantly improved in the last decade.
However, until now, low expertise is available about the durability of building airtightness at mid- and long-term scales.

The industry is now focusing in system solutions and the goal is to be able to deliver complete reliable, energy efficient solutions that is understandable and easy to maintain by the normal service personal.  
In order to do this the basic products have to perform exactly as they are described in the technical documentation. The documentation have to help the designer and the installer to actually build the system in the correct way without compromises from other stakeholders. 

There are several methods for measuring air tightness that may result in different values and sometimes quite different uncertainties. The two main approaches trade off bias and precision errors and thus result indifferent outcomes for accuracy and repeatability.  To interpret results from the two approaches, various questions need to be addressed, such as the need to measure the flow exponent, the need to make both pressurization and depressurization measurements and the role of wind in determining the accuracy and precision of the results.