Outlines the fundamentals of insulation and airtightness, proper air quality, and ventilation. Presents details of design and construction for walls, roofs, foundations, windows, and air-vapour barriers, as well as discussions of ventilation systems, heating systems, appliances and methods of testing and evaluation. One of the appendices gives weather data for selected US and Canadian cities. Aims to be accessible to the interested layperson or homeowner.
Retrofitting of older buildings brings about a noticeable drop in air supply. Fireplaces in buildings need sufficient combustion air. Tight windows may cause insufficient air supply. Therefore an adequate combustion air flow for the fireplace may not be attained and poor combustion will take place. In this study data on length, tightness, etc of windows, doors and other openings in buildings of the last 30 years have been collected.
Reviews literature on indoor air quality in housing, nature of contaminants and their sources, health effects, standards and guidelines, impact of air sealing on indoor air quality, sources of uncontrolled air leakage, airtightness and natural ventilation, airtightness of new and existing housing stock, air change in new and existing housing, impact of air sealing on airtightness and ventilation, indoor air quality in tight houses, impact of occupant behaviour on ventilation, measures to improve indoor air quality, identifying problem houses, indoor pollution control strategies, and ventila
Dynamic insulation is a means of reducing building heat losses to near zero without the use of massive thermal insulation. It relies on recycling the heat conducted through the fabric or reducing the temperature gradient by means of a suitable heat transport fluid - usually air and sometimes water. Describes research and experience in Sweden and France. In Sweden, some 80,000 m2 of roofs (mostly of single storey sheeted structures) use the contraflow system of dynamic insulation and there have been a few experimental installations in the housing sector.
Reviews the present state of development of dynamic insulation systems. Describes the advantages and disadvantages and assesses probable applications. Earlier articles and reports on dynamic insulation are listed and commented on. The second part deals with the ventilation design aspects for practical application of dynamic insulation in buildings. One of the points is concerned with how the air flow through the insulation is affected by changing external climate conditions. The risks of condensation in the insulation, particularly with coincident flow systems, is discussed.
Discusses reasons behind occupant ventilating behaviour, such as: 1. general attitudes, particularly regarding energy, 2. occupant requirements, 3. components of the habitat micro-climate, 4. optimum micro-climate and desired micro-climate, 5. means available in the habitat to modify the micro-climate - a. general means, b. ventilation as a specific means, 6. balancing requirements against means, 7.
50 occupants of terraced houses, divided into 4 groups, were surveyed three times in October 1981, February 1983 and March 1983. The first group had Isolair air heating and ventilating systems, and were well insulated with double glazing. The second group was heated by radiators and had the same insulation as group 1. Groups 3 and 4 had normal insulation. Results of the surveys are given. The air heating and ventilating system did not provide the level of satisfaction hoped for. The group with the air heating and ventilating system was surveyed again in March 1984.
With correct application of vapour barriers the ventilation of building structures is in general not necessary, unless such barriers prevent the escape of trapped moisture from moisture-sensitive - especially organic - materials. Indoor and outd
Aerodynamic phenomena affecting the ventilation process, such as aerodynamic mixing, generation of secondary and slightly turbulent flows, roof contours, infiltration and convection and their connection with geometric parameters of the object and energy expenditure for ventilation are analysed.
Ventilation is widely used to help maintain acceptable indoor pollutant concentrations. In this paper, the relationships between ventilation rate and indoor concentration are examined by the use of mass balance models and measured data. It is shown that the pollutant source strength and pollutant removal by processes other than ventilation can have a large impact on the indoor concentration and that maintenance of a typical ventilation rate does not ensure an acceptable indoor concentration.
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