The brief for this university campus design required a low energy building for the business school and the education faculty, with a wide variety of room sizes and functions. The work included ensuring that the European Commission (Thermie programme) and the British Ministry for Energy DTI financed the low energy strategy. The energy strategy is based on a well-insulated building, a low energy ventilation system, passive solar energy gain, using direct daylight, using a building-integrated photovoltaic system. The buildings are very compact and well insulated.

Describes a cooling design using ground water to prevent overheating in London's underground train network. More conventional air conditioning is unusable because of the problem of exhausting the excess heat. However the proposed system would require moderate extra ventilation for the carriages. Rising groundwater is a major problem in London, and remains at 12 deg. C year-round. Temperatures in summer in tube trains is as high as 28 deg. C in the tunnels rising to 34 deg. C in the crowded trains. The groundwater is passed through heat exchangers in the tunnels which cool the air.

To ensure good indoor air quality in buildings, filters are installed in the ventilation ducts. These filters cause a pressure drop in the ducts, so that increased power to the ventilation fans is required to maintain the flow of fresh air. To reduce this problem, the Norwegian company, Interfil, developed a new energy efficient filter in 1995. This filter has been carefully tested in recent years. The test results show that, compared to ordinary filters, the new filters could reduce fan power by about 10%, while maintaining indoor air quality.

Nightsky, an innovative night roof spray storage cooling system, provides chilled water to in-slab tubing and fan coils. Passive cooling delivery from the slab cools the building in parallel with the 'active' chilled-water fan coils. Delivering a significant fraction of the building's cooling requirements via the floor slab allows that size of the forced-air delivery system to be reduced. NightSky is most appropriate for large, low-rise buildings that have low-slope roof areas.

The emission factors from solvent based paint on stainless steel plates have been studied in three different climate controlled rooms. After equilibrium conditions had been achieved in these rooms, the results were practically the same. The study shows that the effects of sorption, changes in ventilation and air velocity do not affect the results, and it is thus possible to develop a calculation model which can incorporate emission factors.

Describes low energy houses which have been built at Lindas in Sweden. A traditional heating system has been replaced in the design by heat exchanger in combination with an exceptionally well insulated construction. The terraced houses maximise use of passive solar gains, while balconies and projecting eaves protect against excessive solar radiation during the summer. External walls are exceptionally well insulated and airtight. The ventilation system consists of a supply and exhaust air unit with a counter flow heat exchanger that provides 85% heat recovery.