damp

Both in domestic and public environments, dampness in buildings is a risk factor for health effects. A European group of scientists has reviewed the literature on that subject including mite exposure over the period 1998-2000. That review has shown that there is a huge need for multidisciplinary reviews in scientific papers including associations between indoor environmental factors and health effects.

The conventional constant air volume exhaust fan system is actually a variable air volume system. The fan airflow increases as the fume hood airflow decreases. Under partial fume hood exhaust airflow, the fan power is higher than the design fan power. Two energy efficiency measures are developed in this study to reduce the fan power of the conventional constant air volume exhaust system. In the first measure, a modulation damper is added in the main exhaust air duct and

Ventilation of the void below suspended timber floors is necessary to prevent dampness, which leads to wet and dry rot. The air flow beneath such a floor has been investigated for a range of ventilator hole positions, using a full-sized test room. The variations in heatlosses with ventilation rate have been measured, for floors with and without insulation. The use of radiation barriers in place of conventional thermal insulation was found to cut down the heat losses significantly at low ventilation rates, but was not so effective at higher rates.