The overall thermal transfer value ( OTTV) concept has been extended to correlate the OTTV of building envelope designs with other key building design parameters through DOE-2 computer simulations. A survey of 146 commercial buildings completed between 1975 and 1995 provides the information on the prevailing architectural designs and construction practices in Hong Kong. This information forms a basis for the development of a generic office building used in the computer analysis.

An innovative calculation methodology is proposed in this paper which retains the accuracy of sophisticated computer simulation programs, such as DOE 2.1, but maintains the simplicity of simplified building energy calculation methods, such as the Modified Bin method. The entire calculation procedure is discussed and followed by a full-scale experiment on a VAV (Variable Air Volume) system which successfully demonstrated its effectiveness. This method is now proposed to be adapted as the main p<ut of the national building energy code or PACS index in Taiwan

An environmental chamber has been used to compare the effectiveness of mixing and displacement ventilation in terms of heat and contaminant removal. Results are presented for CFD simulations of the air movement in the chamber and for measurements using a heated mannequin with displacement ventilation. The CFD simulations and the measurements suggest that displacement ventilation is more energy efficient than a mixing system.

The development of guidelines for smart innovative mechanical ventilation systems is a task included in an ongoing research project partly supported by the European Commission in the framework of the Joule programme "TIPVENT - Towards Improved Performances of mechanical Ventilation systems". Before starting the actual work with the guidelines a survey was carried out to determine the level of current design methods for ventilation systems in the participating countries (Belgium, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland).