Describes the "olfbar", first presented at the "Healthy Buildings '88" conference. At the bar, different qualities of air may be perceived. It is intended to demonstrate that air polluted by materials or components in buildings may often not be acceptable for human beings. These materials and components, ignored in ventilation standards all over the world, pollute the indoor air and make air stale, stuffy and irritating.
This paper tries to give a reasonable description of the state of the art of the Belgian building stock with regard to ventilation. The Belgian research projects on ventilation in buildings, which were carried out recently, enable a precise overview of the quality of the Belgian building stock to be gained. It shows that airtightness varies a great deal from one building to another. Very leaky as well as very airtight buildings are frequently found. Notable is the near absence of controllable ventilation provisions.
In the framework of a project of the International Energy Agency (IEA) , IEA-Annex XVIII - Demand Controlled Ventilating (DCV) Systems, which started in fall 1987, a review of the state of the art of already existing DCV systems and devices has been undertaken by all participating countries. This paper is concerned with air quality sensors which may be suitable to control air quality on demand. The dominant contaminants are not only variing in different kinds of buildings (dwellings, schools, stores etc.) but also from room to room due to different ways of utilizing the spaces.
The importance of the climate to general health and wellbeing has long been understood. The ultimate goal for planning, building, renovation and administration of the housing stock is to satisfy people's needs. When this goal is not attained, the results will be human sacrifices, social problems and losses to the national economy. This, of course, also applies to the issues of climate and the environment. Research and development work on these questions is nothing new for the Swedish Council for Building Research (BFR).
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