residential buildings

Regulatory compliance checks on samples of residential ventilation systems are operational in France. The analysis of their results shows a significant rate of non-compliance with the ventilation regulation (rate on the order of 50%).

Fact sheet #03 describes a voluntary scheme defining the data to be announced in the product documentation. The scheme has been launched in 2012 by Uniclima, the French association of ventilation product manufacturers. It ensures that product characteristics are provided under a harmonised form (same physical quantity, unit and assessment method), and facilitates access to relevant input data for the energy performance calculation of a building. The scheme contributes to enhancing the compliance of published data.

Fact sheet #01 describes how a quality management scheme has been introduced in the French energy regulation to encourage professionals to question their current practice and find effective solutions to improve building airtightness. The scheme allows successful applicants (mostly builders of single-family dwellings) to justify for a given airtightness level without systematic third-party testing. The fact sheet details the basic principles of the approach as well as the requirements applicants have to fulfil.

It is estimated that people spend 60-90% of their life in indoor environments. Therefore, it is obvious that indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort are of highly importance for the health and wellbeing of the population. Consequently, buildings should be designed to ensure proper indoor conditions. Furthermore, the need to mitigate climate change and to reduce energy import dependency, provides additional challenges for the design and operation of buildings and requires a dramatic reduction in their energy consumption and emissions.

The thermal comfort of the “Home for Life” dwelling in Denmark, the “LichtAktiv Haus” in Germany and “Sunlighthouse” in Austria is investigated with a particular focus on the control strategies and the role of solar shading and natural ventilation (ventilative cooling). These houses are three of six buildings in the Model Home 2020 project (Feifer, 2013). They have generous daylight conditions, and are designed to be energy efficient and CO2 neutral with a good indoor environment.

This paper presents a study of the potential for the use of natural ventilation systems in Portuguese multi-family residential buildings under winter climatic conditions. The behaviour of various natural ventilation systems is tested in a standard residential dwelling, using the TRNSYS 15 and COMIS 3.1 software programs. This study leads to the conclusion that the use of hybrid ventilation systems can save a considerable amount of the energy normally spent on continuously operating mechanical ventilation systems.

The research presented in this paper was conducted in order to test whether the thermal preferences of occupants in low energy houses are influenced by their environmental values. This was done through a thermal comfort study and Environmental Attitudes Inventory (EAI) of 40 low energy households located within two very different climates, cold temperate and hot humid, in Australia.

This article presents the results of a thermal comfort investigation carried out in a residential gated community located in a hot-humid climate.  The study comprises of real-time field monitoring of thermal comfort in representative apartment units and assessment of the utility and cooling energy consumption in these residences.  Utility energy consumption data of the residences for one year period was obtained and a survey was administered to identify the trend of air-conditioner use.  The results are summarized and used to validate a simulation model.

In Portugal, the external thermal insulation systems (ETIS) are nowadays a current technical solution in residential buildings, contrasting with the rarely used internal thermal insulation systems (ITIS). In this paper, a quantitative analysis on ITIS is done based on three hygrothermal façade requirements: interstitial condensations, thermal bridges, and temperature variations across the external wall. Computer simulation was used as research tool.

Efforts to save energy may easily lead to the compromisation of indoor environmental conditions and vice-versa. This study suggests an indicator for indoor environmental quality classification, developed with the purpose of assisting households that are trying to save energy, to maintain optimum levels of indoor environmental quality during this effort. The “Dwelling Environmental Quality Index” (DEQI) is a comprehensive indoor environmental quality indicator, reported to occupants as an easily understood number (percentage).