Research has shown that highly efficient solar powered ceiling fans improve thermal comfort and potentially provide health benefits when air conditioning or conventional ceiling fans are not available, such as during the 2003 summer heat waves in Europe, and in many undeveloped areas of the world. Ceiling fans can improve the spatial effectiveness of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. They can reduce air conditioning energy use if occupants increase thermostat set-points and reduce frequency of operation, and if waste heat from the fan motor is minimized.

Approximatly over 90 percent of buildings in Poland are ventilated in a natural manner. Thescale of problems in the functioning of ventilation in our opinion is serious.In about 3 million apartments inhabitants use gas water heaters, burning fuel in an openchamber. Therefore in these types of apartments the use of mechanical exhaust ventilation isforbidden.Experiences in using mechanical ventilation is not always positive (frequent complaints aboutthe excessive noise of the installation and the high consumption of energy by the fans).

How can hybrid ventilation and natural ventilation significantly improve the indoor climate in retrofitted office and education buildings? During the last 5 years hybrid ventilation and natural ventilation have increasingly been utilised in refurbished and retrofitted buildings with great results. Utilising a newly developed system solution concept, it is illustrated how intelligent control of buildings can establish a good indoor climate with satisfied users. This article contains results from 4 building cases including two schools and two office buildings in Denmark and Switzerland.

A significant part of existing educational buildings have to be retrofit in the next years inFrance. The economical, environmental and social requirements have increased with theinternational targets of reduction of greenhouse emission and sustainable development.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of improved air distribution on symptoms and self-evaluated productivity in a landscape office in which the air was distributed with ventilated cooled beams. The intervention consisted of the improvement of evenness of the air distribution by installing an extra whirl diffuser at the end of every second cooled beam. As a consequence, the draught risk quantified by the draught rating model DR, was reduced to some extend.

Until the 1970’s most office buildings in central Europe were not equipped with mechanical cooling (airconditioning). Due to increasing requirements for thermal comfort and warmer summers, nowadays mechanical cooling is often applied to such buildings, ho

In this paper the effectiveness of retrofitting strategies in a sunspace attached to a one-storey building has been investigated. Natural and hybrid ventilation, air-tight glass partitions, awnings and increased thermal mass retrofitting scenarios were implemented, mainly for the Greek climate. Window openings and sensor-controlled fans were used to create a controllable and secure environment. Combined ventilation and thermal simulation were applied, taking into account all the related physical phenomena, such as ventilation, infiltration and solar radiation.

Part of the task in the design of ventilation systems involves selection and specification of system components - components sizes and expected performance characteristics or criteria to achieve specific ventilation objectives for anticipated environmental conditions. Careful selection of these components is required to ensure that they are able to react to changes in environmental conditions.

The paper deals with on-site measurements of energy benefits resulting from exploitation of a solar greenhouse, which was created in the attic under the southward-oriented glazed roof for pre-heating of the ventilating air.This conception of the solar energy utilisation is used in the residential complex of the senior citizen home in Svitavy, 60 km north of Brno. Based on the data collected with the use of an automation monitoring system during the heating season 2001-2002, the main characteristics of the investigated solar greenhouse operation were established.

It is often discussed about the possibilities that more efficient windows offer to reduce the energy loads in residential buildings. Often such results can be achieved reducing the thermal transmittance or optimising the solar gains, not so often the influence of the air permeability is taken into account. This issue is, on the contrary, very important in countries, as Italy, where the age of the building stock is accompanied by the installation of very old windows, characterised by high air leakage, which causes strong heat losses and discomfort phenomena for users.