A scale mock-up house installed with a "Breathing Wall" was constructed outdoors in order to consider the practical application of breathing walls in houses in temperate-climate regions. It was found that, under outdoor weather conditions, the Breathing Wall provides the necessary amount of ventilation, thermal insulation and moisture transmission required for application in a temperate climate region. No adverse effects on the indoor environment were found even when cold outdoor air flowed through the Breathing Wall.
The research project had the following objectives: document the development of a building envelope retrofit strategy for a high rise apartment building; monitor, assess and document the performance of a high-rise apartment building envelope retrofit withrespect to heat, air and moisture control; assess the degree to which the monitoring protocol can be implemented as part of regular operation and maintenance activities for new and existing building; and assess the potential for the development of a commercially viable, building envelope performance monitoring protocol.
Discusses the accurate evaluation of the effect of thermal bridges on building energy performance using a modelling approach. Sisley software was used first of all to model the heat transfers in the intersections of walls. CLIM 2000 was used to reduce and integrate the models. A comparison was done between these results and the models obtained from thermal regulation values. It appeared that detailed modelling of heat transfers would provide an increased accuracy of around 5% when evaluating the building heat loss.
Login