When an underground parking place is not ventilated frequently enough, it is natural that the concentration of contaminated air cannot be lowered to less than the safety limit. Further, when the supply or exhaust air is not of laminar flow, the contaminated air concentration will increase locally due to stagnation of contaminated air or due to vorticies generated in that place, even with a sufficient number of times of ventilation per unit time.
Parking garages require ventilation because the exhaust fumes produced by the vehicles have to be discharged. This can be achieved with a mechanical or a natural ventilation system. A natural ventilation system has several important advantages compared with a mechanical system. As a rule natural ventilation systems arc simpler, cheaper and have fewer breakdowns, furthermore a natural system requires less maintenance and uses no energy (for air transfer).
One of the most important projects of the 1990s has just been completed - the naturally ventilated School of Engineering at De Montfort University in Leicester. Roderic Bunn reveals how it could influence a new breed of environmentally sensitive buildings.
New research shows that replacing low efficiency window air conditioners with high-efficiency units can produce measurable savings and can be cost-effective in homes with high air conditioning electricity consumption.
Gives a personal assessment of the most important energy utilisation techniques. Describes low-energy buildings, the building fabric, ventilation, energy saving heating systems, including oil heating, gas heating, wood-firing systems, heat pumps, co-generation, solar systems (active), heat emission and heat control; and waterheating.
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