Natural ventilation and design of buildings

The integration of ventilation strategies into building design is the responsability of the architect that will consult design offices for a right quantification of those strategies. A clear distinction must be made between ventilation for hygienic purpose and ventilation for cooling. The natural ventilation strategy will be different according to the different types of buildings (houses, flats, schools or offices)

Ventilation for all, all the time

Ventilation has two functions : a universal role to assure air renovation and bring fresh air into spaces and the role of energy carrier for heating or cooling. In so far as air is always needed, it was used for both functions. But some dysfunctions occured whenever the energy for comfort overwehelms the ventilation for all, all the time.
Though progress in ventilation knowledge has been extraordinary during the last century, there is a growing concern about it. A revision of the concept of comfort must be done along with a better understanding of what it allows in practice.

Estimating effects of moisture damage repairs on students' health - long-term intervention study

After the moisture damage repairs, a health symptom questionnaire study was repeated 1 year, 3 years and 5 years on 245 upper secondary and high school students. The data were analyzed. The results indicate that no new cases of symptomatic students occured : in that sense the repairs succeeded.

Airborne asbestos levels in school buildings in Italy

A summary of environmental investigations carried out from 1992 to 2002 in Italian schools in operation by the ISPESL is provided in this article. After having identified the potential sources of exposure, bulk and air samplings were performed in the suspected contaminated areas. The samplings were then collected on membrane filters. Their analysis was made by phase contrast optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.

Outdoor/Indoor/Personal ozone exposures of children in Nashville, Tennessee

That study was conducted in Nashville (TN) : during six weeks, measurements using passive ozone samplers were made on a group of school children aged 10 to 12 to estimate the outdoor/indoor /personal ozone exposure. Personal ozone exposure depends of the time spent indoors and outdoors.

Quantification of the effects of air velocity on VOC emissions from building materials

The effects of environmental factors can be important in simulating indoor levels of VOCs emitted from building materials. In this study the effort has been made to quantify the relationship between air movements and emissions of decane applied on an oak substrate.
The aim of this research is to determine the correlation between environmental factors and coefficients of mass-transfer based emission models in a mathematical form.

Final report on European interdisciplinary networks on indoor environment and health - EUROWORKS

In this swedish report, an inventory and a multidisciplinary review (EUROWORKS) of the scientific literature about networks on indoor environmental quality and health is made. That work was performed during 2001 and was supported by the European Commission.

Best practices for underfloor air systems

The number of Underfloor air systems (UFAD) has incresed 40 % between 1995 and 2002, thanks to the benefits it offers : lower churn costs, improved IAQ, lower energy costs, potential to reduce floor-to-ceiling heights. But knowledge of how to apply the technology is not widespread.
Design phases, construction and commissioning phases of the UFAD project are presented along with a paragraph on the importance of educating building occupants on UFAD.

Supply air CO2 control of minimum outdoor air for multiple space systems

Supply air CO2 control (SACO2) is a technique for measuring the outdoor air fraction in the supply air and controlling the outdoor air intake. It is applicable to recirculating systems serving multiple places where ventilation targets are based on outdoor airflow rate per person. SACO2 offers significant benefits : energy savings, simple maintenance, adequate ventilation and ability to measure and record performance.

Addendum 62n. Single-zone and dedicated outdoor air systems

That addendum 62n modifies the ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62 "Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, it contains an update to the minimum prescribed ventilation rates and includes ventilation airflow "additivity" for dilution of people-source and building source contaminants.

Pages