English

In residential buildings, the indoor air quality can be significantly affected by ventilation measures initiated by occupants, including the operation of windows and in-unit exhaust fans in kitchens and bathrooms. The outcome of these measures can be highly variable and difficult to accurately characterize in building simulation frameworks. Consequently, many simulations simplify these factors by disregarding window opening behaviours and using fixed schedules for exhaust fan operation across all residential units.

This study aims to investigate the impact of changing residential user behaviour after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 on indoor health and comfort conditions. In this context, user behaviour-focused studies conducted before 2020, the year of the pandemic, and behavioural patterns that changed with the pandemic will be discussed comparatively.

A composite rating scheme for indoor environmental quality (IEQ) can help provide a summary picture of buildings for occupants, inform the building managers regarding IEQ performance that need attention, and raise awareness on regarding the importance of IEQ parameters. The TAIL IEQ rating scheme has been designed to communicate such aspects in a simple, easy to use manner. 

By 2050, Europe aims for energy-neutral buildings, necessitating effective integration of renewable energy sources and smart grid management. To address peak energy demands and prevent grid congestion, building-level energy management is crucial. This paper presents a stepwise calibration methodology for hybrid building models, enhancing flexibility in HVAC systems and thermal buffers.   

In 2022, a new law was passed by the Belgian federal government with the purpose to enhance the indoor air quality in public spaces in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This new law, among other things, requires publicly accessible spaces to apply a CO2 meter and provides the option to have an IAQ label in place that informs the visitor about the indoor air quality of that space.

It is often difficult to implement prevention recommendations and plan targeted measures to limit the spread of airborne viruses in communal spaces. To effectively accomplish this goal, it is crucial to comprehensively characterize the indoor environmental quality in the space and, from these space-specific data, draw recommendations adapted to the setting. In this context, 11 elderly care homes in Belgium were selected for a comprehensive assessment of the indoor air quality (IAQ).

Maintaining good indoor air quality (IAQ) post energy retrofit is essential to ensure the health and wellbeing of building occupants. In this study, a number of indoor air pollutants were measured in a sample of Irish homes pre and post deep energy retrofit (DER). Airborne concentrations of PM2.5 and formaldehyde showed significant increases (p <0.0001) post-retrofit. A health impact assessment was conducted and the results suggest that the greatest health burden (for lung cancer and all-cause mortality) was associated with exposure to PM2.5.

According to the European regulation EN 12207:2017-03, the air permeability of windows and doors is categorized in four different classes and when they are installed on the building envelope, the declared air permeability class should remain unchanged.  
The approach is to perform on-site measurements and to confront 40 different cases of windows and doors installed on new and retrofit projects in Athens, Greece.  
The purpose is to discover and highlight the most common errors to the correct installation and suggest easy tactics to prevent them.  

Old windows make a major contribution to the authentic look of a façade, and maintaining those elements whenever possible is essential for the conservation of our architectural heritage. However, those are often leaky and are consequently responsible for high energy losses, acoustical and thermal discomfort, and incorrect sizing of the ventilation systems. Having a better knowledge of windows airtightness performance is crucial in assessing need for an intervention based on the balance between costs and impact.

The European Directive2024/1275 issued in April 2024 reiterates the goal of having zero-emission buildings in 2050.The consequences in terms of lost energy and performance of poorly tight air ducting are among the biggest waste factors related to HVAC systems and have to be considered. 
Nowadays, with the exception of a few specialist sectors, designers, installers and end users are not aware of the impact of leakage and are generally not in a position to measure or estimate it easily.