Indoor environment quality in European office buildings.

Within the European project Joule II - Indoor Air Quality Audit, 56 office buildings were audited during the winter season 1993-1994 in Europe. The purpose of the audit is to harvest information on ventilation and indoor air quality in relation with occupant health and energy consumption in office buildings. The audit concerns the building itself and its technical equipment, indoor air quality and the opinion of the occupants on the comfort and health condition.

The influence of the occupants and the construction period on the resulting indoor environment.

This study, in progress in Trondheim, Norway, deals with the connection between energy economy and indoor air quality in detached houses. It includes 41 new houses, all equipped with balanced ventilation and heat-pump for energy savings. The study includes both questionnaires and various measurements, and will be finished in 1994. Comparing the new and old housing, 90 % of the occupants are more satisfied with the indoor air quality in their new home, than their old home.

Managing exposure to indoor air pollutants in residential and office environments.

Sources of indoor air pollutants in residential and office environments can be managed to reduce occupant exposures. Techniques for managing indoor air pollution sources include: source elimination, substitution, modification, pretreatment, and altering the amount, location, or time of use. Intelligent source management requires knowledge of the source's emission characteristics, including chemical composition, emission rates, and decay rates.

A study on the control strategies to improve indoor air quality with outdoor air - demonstrated by a bathroom design.

Poor indoor air quality caused by poor ventilation was indicated from field measurements in apartments in Taiwan. Four strategies of employing thermal buoyancy effect, dedicated air flow pattern, transom and spatial connection control are proposed to improve indoor air quality by removing indoor pollutants with outdoor air. To prove the concepts, a bathroom design based on the proposed strategies is presented by numerical simulation using 11 computational fluid dynamics code.

Ventilation and air quality in an office building.

The aim of this study is to assess the performance of the mechanical ventilation system and air quality in an office building. The perfluorocarbon tracer (PFT) technique was used to measure air flow in an air handling unit and to estimate flow rates supplied to the office. In order to validate the PFT technique as a viable means of measuring air flow in the mechanical ventilation system, the PFT measurements were compared with measurements made using a pitot-static tube. Air exchange range, ventilation effectiveness and age of air were examined.

Implications of indoor climate control for comfort, energy and environment.

This paper critically examines the underlying premises of indoor climate control technologies and the HV AC industry (heating, ventilating, air-conditioning). It questions whether 'total environmental control' is possible, effective and desirable. The paper also reviews the methods and terminology of thermal comfort science focusing on the question of predictability of people's environmental preferences.

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