monitoring

Building energy behaviour and indoor environmental conditions have been changing due to different external events that have been taking place at global level from 2020, from the COVID pandemic (2020-2022) to the energy crisis (mainly from the war in Ukraine from February 2022). During these events, existing naturally ventilated (NV) buildings have had to balance minimum thermal comfort, high levels of ventilation (to reduce CO2 concentration and risk of infection) and the lowest energy costs.

Heatwaves are extreme events that will become more frequent and intense with climate change. Maintaining a comfortable and healthy indoor environment becomes crucial during these periods. The occupants are not just passive individuals who undergo the evolution of their environment. They can act to ensure their thermal comfort, in particular by opening or closing windows in summer.

High-quality data obtained from three-dimensional Particle Tracking Velocimetry (3D PTV) is pivotal for indoor environment engineering when designing ventilation strategies or monitoring airborne pollutants dispersion in inhabited spaces. A new method is proposed to link multiple 3D PTV systems, positioned side by side so that the entire measuring volume can be covered. An algorithm is developed to establish a link between the particles' trajectories calculated by each 3D PTV system.

In this paper various direct reading instruments and techniques used in air monitoring are reviewed. Principles of operation are described, pointing out advantages and disadvantages of using such instruments. A procedure for inspection activities, and a sampling and analysis approach is outlined. One case study, covering inspection in an office space is presented in detail, describing monitoring of different types of contaminants, possible false positives and calculations related to exposure limits.

A major challenge in the built environment is the integration of energy and indoor environmental quality in the optimization of existing buildings. The UK’s target of net-zero energy buildings by 2050 brings in the need to optimize existing buildings for energy efficiency and to provide better indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The complications are the monitoring of the indoor environment for better indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort without compromising the energy efficiency of the building.

France is committed to minimizing its greenhouse gas emissions by focusing on the most energy-consuming sector, the residential and tertiary building sector. The renovation of existing buildings and the construction of energy efficient ones are therefore proposed as a possible solution. However, the concept of efficiency is ambiguous and difficult to measure and compare without common parameters and indicators. Indeed, a performance indicator is a decision support tool that describe the specific situation of something based on certain parameters.

Humidity-based DCV systems have been widely used in France for 35 years and are considered as a reference system, including for low-energy residential buildings. The on-going Performance 2 project delivers the preliminary results of a thirteen-year monitoring in thirty social housing apartments.

This paper investigates the relationship between indoor air quality (IAQ) and overheating in a temperate climate in Spain (Cfb attending to Koppen-Ggeiger classification), in dwellings located in residential buildings and without cooling systems.

Smartness is all around us. The HVAC industry is developing more and more products that have sensors, are intelligent, are connected to the Internet and are being controlled via apps. According to a recent European survey among installers, the request and demand from clients for installing home automation and smart products is the highest for HVAC installations. 

Conventional building management systems are costly to install in existing buildings. Building services fail, which results in a cascade of incorrect responses, or occupants and administrators misuse systems. A possible way to reduce the installations costs is to use wireless sensor networks (WSN) to monitor and control building services.