English

In cool and cold climates, sloped roofs with cathedral ceilings are quite sensitive to moisture damages caused by built-in moisture and prolonged concealed condensation of water vapor produced inside. Conventional solutions are to leave a cavity between the thermal insulation and the sheathing and vent it with outside air and/or to include a vapor barrier below the insulation layer. An alternative, however, is the self-drying roof. This concept was evaluated experimentally.

This is a case study describing the procedures for locating, prioritizing, and repairing the causes of ice dam formation at a complex of over one hundred Northeast ski-area condominiums. The testing, performed on four typical units, was commissioned by the Owners Association to prove the feasibility of preventing ice dam formation without replacing all of the existing roofs and to determine the costs of this approach. Ice dam formation is one of the predominate problems for buildings in cold climates.

In the framework of the Flemish “Kantoor 2000” research project, the BBRI invited a Swedish inspector to apply the Boverket-OVK procedure for checking the ventilation installations in three Belgian buildings. This experience was most illustrative for the actual status of ventilation systems in Belgium. The procedure being very simple to apply was still very effective and able to detect most problems with ventilation installations encountered in these buildings. To control the quality of ventilation systems, three aspects of the building process are important:

An investigation of the performance of a recently built estate of over 50 low-energy rental dwellings indicated that there was a slight but significant increase in electricity use of the “super low energy” designs over the control “low energy” designs. The “super low energy” designs included, in addition to the enhanced fabric specification of the “low-energy” types, active systems such as mechanical ventilation, solar DHW panels and enhanced space heating systems.

This paper investigates passive displacement flows in a simple, two-compartment building that comprises a single storey connected to an atrium. Heat gains in the storey and solar gains in the atrium create a stack pressure which drives a ventilating flow. A model is developed to determine the steady flow rate and thermal stratification for a range of heat gains, storey and atrium heights, and ventilation opening areas.

US Manufactured homes are required to be built to Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (MHCSS.) The National Fire Protection Association recently updated ventilation standards for manufactured h

ADEME (French Agency for Environment and Energy Management) regularly commissionssurveys of the attitudes and behaviour of private citizens with regard to energy, andperiodically it also commissions more detailed surveys relating to a particular appliance.The purpose of the survey is to take stock of changing attitudes in households with regard totheir use of energy and to assess the impact of ADEME's policies relating to the home.The questionnaire covers the following aspects: description of the work carried out during theyear surveyed, tax allowances and/or grants applicable to certain ki