The ventilation performance in 59 terraced houses of similar construction was investigated using a passive tracer gas technique. Some thirty houses were ventilated through the original natural ventilation, while eight were equipped with an additional bathroom fan and 20 were retrofitted with a mechanical supply and exhaust ventilation system. All measurements were made simultaneously in March. The ventilation performance was computed using both single-zone and two zone approaches.

Until now, there is no widely accepted way to express any index for this purpose and taking into account the large variety of possible pollutants. Things can be simplified if the aim is to compare different systems and strategies rather than to give an absolute value of quality. For the study of a pollutant source, the main important point for comparison is the pattern of its production, whatever this pollutant is. The detailed data for each inhabitant is the curve of the number of hours above a pollutant level concentration Ci: Nh (Ci).

The paper discusses the performance or a construction element: the Roof Solar Collector (RSC) with regard to the rate of induced natural ventilation which contribute to improve houses indoor thermal comfort. The RSC configuration was made by using modern materials: CPAC monier concrete tiles on the outer side and gypsum board on the inner one. The comparison of numerical results with available experimental data validated the developed model. The effect or RSC parameters mainly, tilt angle and length was analyzed numerically. Finally, a new configuration of RSC was proposed

MCA is a partner in a research group which is being funded by the European Commissions JOULE program to explore the application of passive downdraught evaporative cooling (PDEC) in non-domestic buildings (I). As part of MCA's task to design a full scale experimental building, special components were designed to catch the wind and distribute through the building spaces. To determine the most efficient form for these components, a series of wind tunnel tests was undertaken at the University of Ancona, Italy.

Mechanical ventilation in buildings requires appropriate systems for heating and cooling. The costs of energy demand represent a high percentage of the global costs for climatisation. As a part of a project concerning these subjects the development of a computer code for evaluating energy load due to mechanical ventilation in buildings is in progress. The mathematical model is based on simplified equations to fit dynamically the psychometric curves. Inlet air flow rates are evaluated according to the more recent Italian regulations.