In the framework of SOLVENT project, work was carried out to develop strategies and dissemination material to assist the efficient application of solar and passive ventilation in urban buildings. The information gathered during the project is synthesized in a website designed for the 'informed' architect and also useful to HVAC engineers in their discussions with their clients.

The Building Regulations with regard to the energy performance of buildings in the Netherlands is an attempt to a performance oriented requirement in conjunction with a test standard. The test standard in fact means a calculation procedure. The requirements are given in the Dutch Building Decree. This Decree is coupled to the building act. Within the scope of an application for a building permit is has to be proven that the energy use of the building does not reach the maximum allowed energy amount set for that building.

It is expected that there will be in 2003 an energy performance regulation for the Flemish Region. In the framework of the VLIET-EPIGOON project, a proposal for such legislation is under preparation. This paper describes the global context for the envisaged regulation. Moreover, a number of specific issues are briefly presented.

Ventilation plays an important role in the RT 2000 regulation. This new French thermal regulation takes into account energy for heating and lighting through a C coefficient (primary energy in kWh), as well as summer comfort for non air-conditioned buildings. The paper focuses on the calculation of the C Coefficient. For the ventilation side of it, the calculation method aims both to have simple input data and physically based algorithms. The fact that it was chosen to have a computer based approach made this possible.

Energy Performance standardisation and legislation is receiving an increased interest in many countries. The paper is split up in 3 parts: An overview of the present status: which countries have such regulation in force or under preparation, what is the link with European standardisation? What are the challenges for achieving an effective EP approach? What are important on-going activities?

The Coolhouse project is exploring the viability of alternatives to air-conditioning in southern European countries using innovative passive and low energy cooling and ventilating techniques, with an emphasis on ground cooling. The project will demonstrate a variety of passive cooling techniques and the use of ground cooling systems for housing in Crete and Portugal, a nursing home in southern France and a community centre in Italy. The project partners include architects, energy designers, social housing providers and developers, the project will last 48 months.

In this study a parametric analysis was carried out of the interaction between louvres and various perforated mesh screens. This type of arrangement is common in through-the-wall ventilators used for natural ventilation in buildings. An airflow testing rig was used to examine the impact on louvre airflow performance of the meshes. The interaction of louvre geometries and blade inclinations with meshes of different hole sizes was also investigated experimentally.

This paper is an overview of the work carried out during a 3year EPSRC funded project investigating the important factors in Supply Air window design. The structure and some of the main conclusions of this work are presented here. The project consisted of alternating experimental and simulation phases; the experimental results contributed to the model validation, and the simulation outputs provided design guidance for the following experiments.

European project pr EN13465 from CEN TC 156/WG2/AH4 gives a monozone model for airflow calculations in dwellings. In order to apply it to natural ventilation systems with adjacent ducts used in dwellings in France, we need to address several issues. First, in adjacent ducts, airflows at each level depend on pressions in the different dwellings. We have to solve by iteration the balanced equation proposed in AH4. Then, cowls and roof outlet performances as well as the wind-pressure coefficient on the roof must be known.