ventilation systems

The British Standard Code of Practice, and other authoritative guides, recommend minimum rates of ventilation related to the size and use of rooms, and structural means for providing them. But the difficulty of measuring actual ventilation rates suggests that it is seldom done.

It has already been proven that a large portion of the energy consumption gap between simulations and reality is due to the occupant behaviour in buildings. The improving airtightness of buildings makes that Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) can no longer rely on air renewal through infiltrations, bringing the need of ventilation systems. Within this frame, an ongoing dissertation focuses on the relationship between occupancy behaviour and ventilation systems in low energy buildings.

MONICAIR --MONItoring & Control of Air quality in Individual Rooms-- is a pre-competitive field research project of a broad consortium of Dutch ventilation unit manufacturers and research institutes, supported by the Dutch government. The aim is to investigate the indoor air quality (IAQ) performance and energy characteristics of 9 different mechanical ventilation solutions in dwellings that meet strict air-tightness standards and comply with current building regulations.

house is a dominant factor for animal welfare. There are threshold values or recommendations for the most important climate parameters. Temperature, humidity, CO2 and NH3 gas concentrations, germs, dust, odour and air flow velocity have to be observed. Unfortunately the necessary ventilation of livestock buildings leads to emissions, too. So an important aim is to develop ventilation systems that produce: 

This paper gives a quick overview of the PRAXIBAT programme led by the French Agency for Energy and Environment to improve building professionals skills to achieve low- or nearly zero-energy buildings. It looks more specifically at the initiatives targeted at ventilation systems installers, with practice-oriented trainings in quasi-real conditions.