A new statistic for quantifying climate, Infiltration Degree-Days, is introduced. These serve the same function for infiltration and infiltration-related processes that standard degree-days have served for conduction and conduction-related p

Discusses levels of radon commonly found, the limits fixed by Sweden for buildings, and the health effects of these levels. The three main sources of radon are domestic water, building materials and the ground, with the ground being the most important element. Radon values for different soils in Sweden are given as illustration. COSTIC is planning to study the most susceptible zones of France, and to follow this with recommendations, including minimumair change rates.

To measure actual air infiltration in dwellings due to the house and inhabitants it is necessary to measure continuously for several days. This can be done by the constant concentration measuring method. The measurements show that in houses with a reasonably low air infiltration rate (0.2-0.5 h-1) theinhabitant has the major impact (up to 50-75%) on the total air infiltration rate. This must be taken into consideration when designing mechanical and natural ventilation systems.

Presents the results to date of the use of the multiple tracer gas technique to determine interzonal airflow and ventilation rates in large, multicelled buildings like offices. This work is part of a wider project designed toextend knowledge of natural ventilation in all types of buildings other than dwellings.

Outlines the fundamentals of insulation and airtightness, proper air quality, and ventilation. Presents details of design and construction for walls, roofs, foundations, windows, and air-vapour barriers, as well as discussions of ventilation systems, heating systems, appliances and methods of testing and evaluation. One of the appendices gives weather data for selected US and Canadian cities. Aims to be accessible to the interested layperson or homeowner.

Describes a procedure for the approximate determination of air infiltration for a single family house for given weather conditions. To carry out the calculation it is only necessary to measure the permeability of the building envelope using a blower door. The calculation procedure is so straightforward that it can be carried out on a programmable pocket calculator. Refers to a comparative study by the Air Infiltration Centre, which found that the calculation model described gave the best results of any single cell model for all the houses investigated.

The installation of much tighter windows has led to reduced rates of natural ventilation in German dwellings. This has resulted in increased indoor air humidity and condensation formation on the inner surfaces of external building elements with thermal bridges. Notes the areas most at risk from condensation and mould, in particular corners of outside walls and along the ceiling angle.

Over a one-year period, measurements were taken of air temperature, air humidity, ventilation rate, concentration of organic gases and vapours, formaldehyde and odour intensity in a small unfurnished bedroom in each of 6 new unoccupied low energy houses. The indoor climate was on average characterized by an air temperature of 24.7 plus or minus 3 degrees C, and an air humidity of 5.9 plus or minus 2.0 g/kg. Ventilation in each room was between 0.79 and 2.92 air changes per hour. On average 14 different compounds were identified in the samples, a total of 23 compounds being identified.

This report presents the results of air leakage tests on polyethylene membranes installed in a frame wall. The results would be useful in evaluating the methods commonly used for installing such a component.

Errors resulting from treating a house as an enclosure surrounding a single, well-mixed volume of air are explored in detail for a ranch house with abasement. A fairly typical ventilation pattern is assumed and three quantities, the air exchange rate, the indoor pollutant concentration from a given emission, and the energy required to heat infiltrating air, are calculated and compared using both the one and two zone models for this house.In general, the errors were around 10-20% if the basement was included in the one zone models and 30-40% if the basement was neglected.