A Ventilated roof component was built and tested in the outdoor testing facilities (Test Cells) of CRES, Greece. A conventional Greek roof structure of the same area was also installed in the roof of the Test Cell allowing simultaneous measurements in order to perform a comparative study of the performance of the two parts. Different configurations in the Ventilated roof were investigated, like ventilation air gap height and application of a radiant barrier. The tests carried out under summer weather conditions will be discussed in this paper.

The relative importance of ventilation in the energy balance of buildings has been increasing,as a consequence of control of heat exchanges through the envelope and internalgains. It is therefore very important to clearly understand the main factors that affect energyconsumption due to ventilation and potential ways to decrease the energy demand withoutaffecting IAQ.This study was developed within the European project TIP-VENT (JOULE).

The traditional way to dehumidify the outdoor air in an A/C-system is by cooling the air downbelow the dew point temperature. For this process a refrigeration system is necessary torealise these low temperatures. Nowadays the disadvantages of refrigeration systems fordehumidification are widely known. An alternative method to dehumidify the air is byseparating the process of dehumidification and cooling.The paper will present a testing plant of 1200 m air/h which is installed in the University ofEssen. This A/C-systems works with liquid desiccants.

The operation and performance of forced-air ventilation systems with the aid of a dynamic modeling and simulation computer program are presented. The functions and features of GEMS (Generalized Engineering Modeling and Simulation), a dynamic modeling and simulation software tool, are briefly described. Using GEMS, the effects of different ventilation airflow rates and sensible and moisture efficiencies on the thermal comfort environment within the conditioned space were analyzed.

The heating degree-days method is widely used for calculation of the air change heating energydemand. However, different countries perceive different values for base temperatures due todifferent insulation levels and internal loads, decreased infiltration rates through tighterconstruction practices, and low temperature settings in efforts to reduce energy consumption.This has always made it difficult to make accurate comparisons for heating energy demandbetween different countries.

Measurements of ventilation rates and internal temperatures have been recorded in a naturallyventilated auditorium with high intermittent heat gains for a wide range of weather conditionsat a UK site. Satisfactory internal temperatures and high ventilation rates have been found forwinter, mid-season and summer external conditions.Simple ventilation and thermal models have been derived from experimental data whichallow the prediction of ventilation rates and internal temperatures within the auditoriumdespite the complex natures of the flow regimes and heat transfer mechanisms present.

This paper presents an experimental study of natural ventilation induced by combined forces of thermal buoyancy and opposing wind in a single-zone building. Experiments demonstrated that for a certain range of buoyancy strength and wind speed, two different stable ventilation modes and thus flow rates exist for a fixed building geometry at given buoyancy and wind strength. In these situations, the final ventilation mode and the ventilation flow rate are dependent on the ventilation history of the building.

This paper outlines work in progress to develop dissemination material to assist the appropriate application of solar and passive ventilation in urban buildings.

Conventional models of building occupants' environmental preferences such as thermal comfort are used to give guidelines for the average environmental conditions that will satisfy large groups of people. The research described in this paper investigates how the preferences of an individual occupant can be modeled to predict their preferred thermal and environmental conditions. A novel, Internet based questionnaire was developed to gather thermal sensation votes.

A number of single tracer gas techniques (decay, step-up, homogeneous constant emission,inlet pulse and homogeneous pulse) suitable for measuring the local mean ages of air in multizonebuildings exist, each having their advantages and drawbacks. The characteristics of thedifferent available techniques are compared from theoretical and practical points of view. Thehomogeneous pulse technique has not been experimentally validated before. This techniquerelies on pulses of tracer gas being injected into the different zones in amounts, which areproportional to the zone volumes.