English

There is a need for a greater understanding of the acoustical and airflow performance of interior openings, and of silencers implemented to improve their acoustical performance, in naturally ventilated buildings. This paper discusses preliminary, fundamental aspects of a study done to provide engineers and architects with optimal design techniques. It discusses the characterization of ventilator performance, including the definition of the open area ratio - a combined acoustical and airflow performance-optimisation metric.

Buoyancy-driven natural ventilation in ventilation shafts is investigated with a small scale physical experiment within a duct and CFD simulations of an office building. For a fixed exhaust opening, smaller shafts lead to higher flow rates in upper floors of a multi-storey building with a shared ventilation shaft. These higher flow rates are caused by increased vertical momentum within the smaller shafts that induce flow through upper floors, an effect referred to as the “ejector effect”.

This report describes a harmonised procedure for establishing a list of compounds and their associated LCI (Lowest Concentration of Interest) values for the evaluation of emissions from construction products (EU-LCI) taking into account existing procedures used in some Member States (i.e. ANSES in France and AgBB in Germany). It provides an appropriate health‐protective, science-based and transparent yet pragmatic approach with a flexible framework that enables review of the EU-LCI procedure to take into account new knowledge (e.g.

Harmonisation of indoor products labelling schemes in the EU is an important aspect of the European Commission’s policy making process in the field of indoor air quality and associated health effects. This report describes the outcome of recent activities and a roadmap setting out the steps being taken by the ECA preparatory working group 27 led by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre for establishing an EU wide harmonisation framework for labelling schemes which consists of core and transitional criteria for testing and evaluation methodologies.

The Proceedings of the International workshop: "Summer Comfort and Cooling", held in Barcelona, Spain, 31 March -1 April, 2009.

The proceedings of the AIVC -TightVent International Workshop: "Achieving relevant and durable airtightness levels: status, options and progress needed" held in Brussels, Belgium, 28-29 March 2012

A list of the best paper and poster awards winners of the joint 34th AIVC, 3rd TightVent, 1st venticool and 2nd Cool Roofs’ Conference held in Athens, Greece on 25-26 September, 2013.

A summary of the presentation: "Where are we today with ventilation and infiltration in buildings?" of Peter Wouters, operating agent of AIVC, presented at the 34th AIVC Conference in Athens.

A summary of the presentation: "Energy Performance and Indoor Climate: Progress in the last 20 years and Perspectives" of Francis Allard, professor at the University of La Rochelle, at the 34th AIVC Conference in Athens.

This publication collects papers presented at one of the activities organized in the context of the AIVC-project ‘improving the quality of residential ventilation systems’, primarily at the international workshop.