The new buildings of Kaneyama Town Junior High School demonstrate that a well-planned and adequately designed passive solar system can work effectively even in a snowy and cold area. The OM solar system of an air heating type applied here, which is characterised by heat collection through roofs, and underfloor heating and heat storage, provides the pupils with a comfortable thermal environment in winter.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to improve the thermal quality of newhomes, most of which are being built in the sunbelt by large building development companies.Low-infiltration production (tract) homes need ventilation systems that satisfy the low-costpriority of the builders as well as the safety, health and low operating cost expectations ofhomeowners.
This study simulated the performance of various mechanical supply and exhaust ventilation systems, incorporating heat recovery, in a typical Finnish residential apartment building. Dynamic thermal simulations were undertaken, representing a period of a year. These simulations incorporated the building details combined with information about the HVAC-systems, internal thermal loads and outdoor climate.
Many modern buildings in the Nordic countries have mechanical ventilation. Passive stack ventilation is, however, an accepted ventilation system in the Nordic countries according to the current building codes. The building authorities need to be able to supply guidelines on natural ventilation systems in modern buildings, in order to fullfill the requirements on a healthy indoor climate at a reasonable energy cost. Therefore a project was initiated by the Nordic committee on building regulations.
Ventilation by displacement is a type of ventilation where the air flow is thermally driven. By this arrangement one obtains two zones in the room - a lower zone with supply air conditions and an upper recirculation zone with extract air conditions. Cold climate causes downdraught from windows and external walls and results in a mixing of air from the upper into the lower zone. To avoid this problem during cold climate a new principle for ventilation by displacement is tested. Excess heat from the upper zone of the room is used for heating cold surfaces.