The year-round climate of Taiwan is warm and humid. Apart from the hottest months in summer, there are four months suitable for nocturnal ventilation to acquire indoor cooling. The urban Taiwanese apartments are small due to the limited usable land.

This research is part of project NATVENT (TM), a concerted action of nine institutions ofseven European countries under the Joule-3 program. It aims to open the barriers that blocks theuse of natural ventilation systems in office buildings in cold and moderate climate zones.Natural night-time ventilation cooling is a very effective means to remove the heat,accumulated in the building fabrics during office hours. Moreover, it requires no energy at all.Cooling with natural ventilation has it limits; more than 6 air changes per hour have no morecooling effect.

In this paper the energy impact of natural cross ventilation is examined conducting a set of crossventilation experiments in a well insulated apartment of a 5-storey building. The experimental resultscompared with simulation results derived from the combined use of the multizone air flow modelCOMIS and the thermal model Suncode.A 24-hour lasting natural cross ventilation experiment was conducted, to monitor thermal comfortventilation mainly during the day and night time cooling ventilation.

A method for estimating the reliability of mechanical ventilation systems in dwellings hasbeen developed. The analysis is based on component level reliability models interconnectedby so called fault-tree schemes. A simplified model for maintenance is included. Theanalysis procedure is applied on an central exhaust ventilation system and on a central supplyand exhaust ventilation system with heat recovery. For each system, three different qualitystandards have been defined and combined with three levels of maintenance. Work has alsobeen done on collecting relevant input data, e.g.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to improve the thermal quality of newhomes, most of which are being built in the sunbelt by large building development companies.Low-infiltration production (tract) homes need ventilation systems that satisfy the low-costpriority of the builders as well as the safety, health and low operating cost expectations ofhomeowners.

The main goal of IEA Annex 27 "Evaluation of ventilation systems" is to develop tools toevaluate ventilation systems in an objective way in terms of indoor air quality, energy,comfort, noise, life cycle costs, reliability and other building related parameters.To check the developed tools some measurements in real dwellings are necessary. Thedevelopment of the tools is in its final stage. During the AIVC conference some of these toolswill be presented. The indoor air quality tool is not yet ready.

The design of low-energy office buildings requires specific attention to an energy efficient concept for providing good indoor air quality conditions. With this respect, mechanical ventilation shows undeniable advantages: it can be optimally controlled (infrared detection, CO2 control,...), heat recovery is applicable, outdoor noise and pollution penetration can be minimised. Another crucial challenge in low-energy office buildings is avoidance or, if possible, the minimisation of active cooling needs.

The main source of humidity in office buildings is the human occupant. Moisture is therefore a result of heat transmission from the person to the room air. The article covers heat transmission of the human body, humidity and comfort, cooling and dehumidification, and refrigeration capacity.

This paper summarizes recent developments in natural and passive cooling in buildings and the main results from the European research project P ASCOOL. The project was completed at the end of 1995, after 2i'months of theoretical and experimental work resulting in a better understanding of passive cooling techniques and the development of tools and design guidelines. The project was a collaboration of 29 European universities and research organizations from 12 countries.

A new type of residence (the SEA house) has been proposed in winter, the house is heated by solar energy. Thermal insulation, heat storage, and air circulation are used to maintain the room temperature at a comfortable level and to reduce the temperature difference between the south side and the north side of the house. In summer, earth tubes are used for the purpose of cooling the proposed house. The thermal performance of the house was simulated by a computer program called PSSP, which can predict room temperature in a multiroom system.