Natural ventilation has been claimed as suitable for 9 out of 10 offices not severely affected by noise or pollution, claims Andrew Martin.

In the previous issue of this Newsletter, the THERMIE Programme was presented through an interview with Mr Sampaio Nunes, Director of Energy Technology at the EC's DG XVII. In order to illustrate the Programme, this issue's subject is focused on the presentation of actual projects: six new so-called Targeted Projects have indeed been approved for THERMIE support in the Building sector after the 1995 and 1996 calls, and are now getting up to speed.

There is a substantial gap between truly energy-efficient construction and what is currently being built. The problems range from lack of training to carelessness. But there are ways to cure the problems and bring best practices into widespread use.             

 The trend towards natural ventilation and low energy cooling systems is affecting the ways in which engineers design and operate heating systems in low energy buildings             

The new headquarters of the Commerzbank in Frankfurt - the tallest office building in Europe - has proved one thing conclusively: it is possible to build a vast high rise in the middle of a busy city and use passive techniques to control its internal environment