English

Energy efficiency was the primary goal in the development of both the mechanical and electrical systems for the Norristown Area School District's Whitehall Elementary SchooI. This new facility is the first school in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to utilize ice thermal storage as the primary cooling medium. By applying innovative technology, the result is not only a building in which energy savings exceed those anticipated but which contributes to the children s education by providing a comfortable atmosphere for learning

The town-planning guide for the areas of the high speed rail station of Florence, is finalised at the synthesis of a comprehensive strategic design of the overall objectives bring out by the town-planning scheme of the city. The new bioclimatic strategies realised for the new buildings involved natural lighting systems, roof developed such green areas, passive solar glazed facades, passive natural ventilation, underground design strategies.

Welcome to the 'Blue Pages'. This is where guest editors from the Editorial Advisory Panel for Building Services Engineering Research and Technology address current developments in building services engineering practice and research. The articles are very short, on one theme of current interest, and do not go through the longer refereeing process for conventional research papers. This is to encourage consultants and contractors to discuss their latest developments in a non-commercial manner. Academics will also be asked to outline current research areas in universities and colleges.

In hot climates ventilation can be a useful means of cooling dwellings, if the outside air is cooler than that inside the dwelling. Often, in hot regions the outside air is so hot during the day that cooling by ventilation is of no benefit until the evening when the outside air cools. Ventilation can then be beneficial, and can be promoted by a sun-warmed cavity or 'solar chimney' added to a building on the sun ward side. The cavity may be of any material of high thermal capacity. Heat from the sun is stored within the walls and heats the air within.