Summary of an APCA International Speciality Conference. Contains information on some relatively unfamiliar trace gases and fungi, as well as on the better known indoor air pollutants. Studies range from those on human health tothose concentrating on pollutant emissions to those addressing building ventilation. Papers also cover sick building syndrome and pollutant and ventilation surveys.
After years of intensive studies on indoor air pollution sources, pollution levels, condensation effects, building airtightness, and air change rates, we are now at the point to discover that no solution whatsoever to the ventilation problem is possible if compatibility with user comfort and user habits are not properly taken into account. User compatibility of aventilation strategy under todays conditions in dwellings must in fact be understood as a requirement equivalent to the purely functional ones of pollutant removal and of economy.
The occupants' behaviour is one of the parameters which has the greatest influence on the air change in the dwelling. This applies both to naturally and to mechanically ventilated dwellings. On the basis of continuous measurement of the air change in 25 dwellings, the relation between the ventilation system and air change and between the number of occupants and air change is discussed. The air change in the 25 dwellings has been measured for a period of about one week during occupancy. The measuring principle applied is "the method with constant concentration of tracer gas".
The introduction describes the principle of SVP (Solar Ventilation Pre-heating) and then reviews a number of current related topics. Heat recovery is considered. Work on other devices which produce solar heated air is reviewed. The main driving forces of natural ventilation are wind pressure and thermal buoyancy. One of the problems is that the magnitude of these forces is very variable. The basis of SVP demands a thorough knowledge of airflow through buildings.
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