Much has been said recently about healthy home environments. For many years anecdotal evidence has been collected about the improved health that residents in R-2000 homes have experienced. CW/Chas been promoting healthy home environment ideas through their Healthy House initiative. But is there scientific evidence behind claims that R-2000 homes are healthier for their occupants?

Carbon dioxide (CO)-based demand controlled ventilation (DCV) is increasingly used to modulate outside air ventilation based on real-time occupancy. Its use could potentially become as common as thermostatic control is today. This article summarizes the current state of the art in CO 2 -based ventilation control including a brief discussion of the technology used, its reliability and how it is best applied. Like any control approach, the success of a C02-based DCV application is dependent on how it is engineered and installed.

Measurements of the airtightness of blocks of flats in Lithuania were carried out between 1995 and 1997 to assess the effectiveness of energy saving measures. At that time there was no real data on the airtightness of such dwellings available. The aim of the measurements was to evaluate how much heat could be saved by diminishing the air change rate. Since there are no thermostats installed in the dwellings, 'tightening' becomes the only measure available to increase indoor temperature.