IEA Annex 32 Integral Building Envelope Performance is developing a number of test procedures and measures that can be used to compare and rate the thermal performance of alternative whole-wall construction technologies for residential structures. In this paper, we address sustainability issues and potential impacts building materials may have on the environment. Specifically, we describe the development of a whole-wall sustainability index.

In order to help the development of energy efficiency building standard in Brazil , to demonstrate state of art technologies and to encourage the use of hourly energy simulation tools the National Energy Conservation Program (PROCEL) has started the "6 Cities Project". The project is being developed in six cities around the country. For this project a standard methodology was developed and applied. The methodology consists of a survey in the local utilities to establish the highest energy consumers in the commercial and public sector.

All countries have a common obligation regarding environmental issues. Mature market economies still have problems with market imperfections and countries with markets in transition have not yet fully developed the institutions to make use of the market mechanisms. Both market function, institutions and policies must develop to achieve market transformation both in a national and an international context.

The increasing power of personal computers has e:ncouraged a proliferation of building energy simulation software packages. The prospective user has no way to quantitatively judge the appropriateness of a given software package for a given design problem. To address this issue, the Building Energy Simulation Test (BESTEST) procedure was developed for systematically testing whole building energy simulation programs and diagnosing sources of predictive disagreement. The BES TEST procedure takes a "comparative testing" approach where a program is compared to itself or to other programs.

There is a need to improve building envelopes in many parts of the developing world. In cold climates, scarce fuel is consumed in an attempt to maintain reasonable indoor temperatures. In Northern Pakistan, traditional houses are made with stone walls while newer buildings, houses and schools, use uninsulated concrete block that has even lower thermal resistance. Evaluation and improvement of these buildings were undertaken with a regional non-governmental organization. Measurements were made of the thermal resistance of typical exterior walls.

A number of interzonal air flow models have been developed to calculate air flows and pollutant transport mechanisms in both single-zone and multizone buildings. The International Energy Agency's Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems program adopted a working group on multizone air flow modeling to study physical phenomena causing air flow and pollutant transport (e.g., moisture) in multizone buildings, develop numerical modules to be integrated into COMIS, and evaluate the computer code.

As thermal storage media, phase-change materials (PCMs) such as paraffin1 eutectic salts; etc. offer an order-of-magnitude increase in thermal storage capacity, and their discharge is almost isothermal. By embedding PCMs in gypsum board, plaster, or other wall -covering materials, the building structure acquires latent storage properties. Structural elements containing PCMs can store large amounts of energy while maintaining the indoor temperature within a relatively narrow range.

Conventional evaporative coolers are high-pressure high-volume devices that deliver cool air by water evaporation wetted pads. Natural down-draft evaporative coolers, or "Cool Towers", are devices developed at The University of Arizona's Environmental Research Laboratory. Similar to conventional coolers, these devices are equipped with wetted pads and sprays at the top which provide cool air by evaporation but the air is moved by gravity flow saving the energy required by the blower. In arid regions, cool towers are useful for cooling buildings and outdoor private and public areas.

This paper documents the energy savings observed for a program operated by the Eugene Water and Electric Board which provided duct sealing for mobile and manufactured homes as its principal measure. Billing data and associated mean outdoor temperature data on more than 400 participants for one or more years pre and post was used as the basis of the savings estimate. The observed savings were used along with site treatment costs to estimate a levelized cost of savings of 12 mills/kWh exclusive of utility management costs.

This paper documents the experimental results and energy savings estimate from an end-use and water metering study of a sample of 104 multi-family sites. These sites were treated with a comprehensive Domestic Hot Water (DHW) retrofit consisting of flow efficient 2.0 GPM showerheads, kitchen and bath aerators, tank thermostat setback to 130°F, and a tank wrap if necessary. These measurements were modeled by a regression model with variables for occupancy, setback degree, and delta flow at the primary showerhead.