Dampness in residential buildings is detrimental to the health of the occupants and causes the growth of mold and decay in the fabric of the building materials. In Taiwan the average winter relative humidity is 80% and the average temperature is 15°C (59°F). It has been found that the average winter indoor moisture content in Taiwanese apartments can be higher than the outdoor content by as much as 15%. Although the main cause for the increased indoor humidity levels has not been identified, removing the moisture generated from shower baths can help reduce the humidity.
The provision of ventilation air for high-rise multifamily housing has plagued retrofit practitioners and researchers alike. How does one determine whether sufficient levels of outdoor air are being provided to all apartments in a building? And how does one know whether the systems can be retrofit to improve their energy efficiency without compromising air quality?
This paper describes a building analysis model for Russian multi-family housing, an array of possible retrofits, and the energy analyses for these buildings. It also describes the Russian retrofit project that will use these analyses to specify more than $300M of retrofits across six cities. The research was done under the Enterprise Housing Divestiture Project, a Government of Russia project with partial financing from the World Bank. A special version of the Facility Energy Decision System [FEDS] model was developed for use on Russian multi-family buildings.
Equivalent leakage areas (ELAs) of 50 Russian apartments were measured under three conditions: 1) as found, 2) exhaust vents sealed, and 3) vents, electric boxes and windows sealed, in 12 buildings of similar construction. Distributions of ELA per unit of apartment volume are presented for the three conditions. Apartment ELAs were found to vary slightly with floor, indicating that the level of occupant-applied weatherstripping is a function of occupants' perception of infiltration rates and that lower floor occupants perceive larger infiltration rates than upper floor occupants.
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