Energy efficient ventilation has a key role to play in achieving the Government's objectives for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions. Ian Andrews discusses the background to the issues.

The materials from which a building is constructed make a significant contribution to its overall impact on the environment. This impact is felt in a number of ways; locally. through the effects of activities such as quarrying; globally, as a result of carbon dioxide released by using energy used to manufacture the materials; and internally, in the effects on the health of the occupants of the building. Some of these effects are easier to measure than others. and comparisons between the seriousness of the different effects are difficult to make.

HVAC system outdoor airflow rates are usually measured and set at the air-handling unit. The effectiveness of an HVAC system at delivering the outdoor air to the occupied spaces of a building is varied and often disputed. To investigate the delivery of outdoor air to the occupied spaces of a variable-air-volume system, ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.1, Large Building Air Conditioning Systems, funded Project 687- TRP, Minimum Ventilation Airflow Rates with VAV Systems. This article presents some of the information collected during that project.

ASHRAE is developing a standard to ensure cabin air quality 1) is safe for flight and occupants; 2) minimizes the potential for adverse health effects; and 3) is comfortable to occupants. ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.3, Transportation Air Conditioning, issued a work statement for the study, "Relate Air Quality and Other Factors to Symptoms Reported by Passengers and Crew on Commercial Transport Category Aircraft." The study's purpose is to support the development of ASHRAE Standard Project Committee 161P, Air Quality in Transport Category Commercial Aircraft. 

The Peterborough Environment City Trust has embarked on an ambitious energy saving programme involving the whole community Rose Riddell looks at what has been achieved so far.