Indoor air quality and comfort of occupants, in the context of international commitments, reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is an important subject. The Paris Agreement of 2015 on Climate set ambitious targets to limit global warming. The energy and environmental challenges that we collectively face are translated by France into a proactive policy of reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint, particularly in the building sector, responsible for nearly 45% of national energy consumption and more than 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. The ventilation of buildi

The opening keynote will present an overview of the current status and future opportunities for smart buildings in Europe, in the context of the transition to more sustainable use of energy. In 2017 EASME mapped the activities of projects working on smart buildings and the extent of EU support given under the Horizon 2020 framework programme. The results were presented at the conference Sustainable Places 2017 at Teeside University (UK) and published the same year in a special issue of the peer reviewed journal Buildings.

Energy performance of buildings has been continuously and systematically improved in Europe with next step of transition to nearly zero energy buildings (NZEB) in 2019-2021. Well insulated and airtight NZEB provide challenges or opportunities – depending on point of view – for ventilation systems. Heat recovery ventilation may be expected to be major ventilation solution because in Continental and Nordic climates, it is simply impossible to build nearly zero energy buildings without heat recovery.

The present talk will present some of the initiatives from ASHRAE regarding “smart” in general and then focus on indoor environmental activities related to “smart” ventilation. The ASHRAE society theme for 2018/19 is “Building Our New Energy Future”. In the future, our buildings will be interconnected through a “Smart Grid” in general the electricity grid.

Substantial energy is used to condition the air that enters California homes through leaks in the building envelope and ductwork - typically about a third of all heating and cooling. Reducing this through air sealing is essential to California achieving zero energy homes. However, this outdoor air also dilutes pollutants emitted inside homes and contributes to a healthy indoor environment and acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ). To address this IAQ issue, California’s Title 24 Building Standards have required mechanical ventilation in new homes since 2008.