High outdoor ventilation air requirements can lead to significant increases in building energy use, thermal discomfort, indoor air quality problems, and litigation. Engineers often avoid ground-source heat pumps because of the perception that there are no acceptable methods for conditioning the ventilation air. However, this difficulty is currently a problem with all types of heating and cooling systems. Decisions may be based on system performance at design conditions without regard to seasonal energy consumption.

Angle factors between a human body and rectangular planes are calculated by a numerical model. The method presented in this paper which predicts the thermal radiation field in a space, is based on a numerical integration method proposed in a previous paper. To confirm the validity of the calculated results, predicted angle factors for both standing and seated persons are compared with those from experiments. It was found that the predicted figures matched well with those from experiments except those between the human body and the front floor.

A series of experiments was carried out to study the effect of temperature and humidity on the perception of indoor air quality. The study included both laboratory and controlled field experiments using an untrained sensory panel to judge the air quality at different levels of temperature and humidity. Facial and whole-body exposure for a short term (up to 20 minutes) was used in the laboratory study, and long-term whole-body exposure (up to 4. 6 hours) was used in the field study. The study found a significant impact of temperature and humidity on the perception of indoor air quality.

Relations between indoor neutral temperatures and outdoor temperatures are currently proposed as an "adaptive standard" to supplement ASHRAE Standard 55-1992. They rest on the 1998 ASHRAE database. Humphreys and Nicol drew attention to the depression of the regression coefficient by measurement and formulaic error in thermal comfort indices. This paper applies their suggested correction, and improves the precision of the relations. Comparison is made with similar relations from earlier data. The relation for unheated, naturally ventilated buildings has remained unchanged.

This paper provides a theoretical error analysis of common airflow measurement and control techniques to maintain minimum outside air intake rates in variable air volume (VA V) systems. The results of the error analysis indicate that control strategies using direct airflow measurement from either an averaging Pitot-tube array or an electronic thermal anemometry provided the best ventilation control.