Moisture buffering by the room enclosure can have an important influence on the variation in interior relative humidity. A characterisation to qualify and quantify this moisture buffering effect is given in a complementary paper (Janssen and Roels, 2009a, 2009b). Starting from this methodology, this paper proposes a method to determine the hygric inertia of an entire room in situ. To do so, a humidifier is placed in the room and a moisture production scheme is imposed over an interval of some days.

The significance of interior humidity in attaining sus-tainable, durable, healthy and comfortable buildings is increasingly recognised. Any interior humidity evalu-ation requires a qualitative and/or quantitative assess-ment of interior moisture buffering.  This paper intro-duces the production-adaptive characterisation of the moisture buffer potential of single elements and cor-roborates their superposition toward a room-enclosu-re moisture buffer potential.  It is verified that this al-lows qualitative comparison of enclosures in relation to interior moisture buffering.

As most building energy simulation programs focus on the thermal response of the building, the relative humidity of the indoor air is often calculated in a simplified way. One of the main shortcomings is the isothermal calculation, which may have a strong influence the predicted relative humidity. In this paper the use of a simplified effective moisture penetration depth (EMPD) model is compared with a coupled TRNSYS-HAM-model. First, an estimation of the load for humidification and dehumidification is made.

Semi-transparent photovoltaics (STPV) have a large potential for integration in fenestration systems, adding the option of solar electricity production while still allowing for satisfaction of daylight needs. This paper studies the potential of using such a technology and examines the impact of changing the photovoltaics (PV) area ratio (ratio of PV coverage to fenestration area) on the STPV façade.

Simulation analyses for solar combisystems (domestic hot water productionand space heating) with different levels of collector quality (atmospheric and evacuated flat-plate collectors) and different types of façade integration (direct, indirect) have been performed.

This paper develops convective heat transfer coefficients for several different BIPV/T system configurations using Computational Fluid Dynamics models. The results for one of the CFD cases are validated with experimental data from a BIPV/T installation. The second part of the paper describes a model which is used to generate annual performance data for the system, including thermal and electrical energy production. Framing elements increase the turbulence which in turns increases the convective heat transfer coefficients.

Photovoltaic systems can reduce the CO2 emissions associated with the consumption of electricity in dwellings. One key issue that affects both the  economic case for home installation and the integration with the mains electricity grid is the match between the instantaneous production and demand for power. This initial study considers a sample of 10 dwellings which were monitored under the UK Government’s Photovoltaic Domestic Field Trial.

This paper addresses the potential of the simulation assisted operation of devices for natural ventilation. Toward this end, a control scheme was conceived as follows: at specific points in time, the control system applies simulation to predict how various window operation regimes would affect the indoor temperature in the building over the course of the following day. Comparison and ranking of the simulation results is conducted using Mean Overheating of the indoor air in selected spaces as the relevant performance indicator.

This paper presents the Key Factors methodology that supports energy managers in determining the optimal building operation strategy in relation to both energy consumption and thermal comfort. The methodology is supported by the utilisation of calibrated building energy simulation models that match measured data gathered by an extensive measurement framework. The paper outlines the proposed methodology defining the underpinning concepts and illustrating the performance metrics required to capture the effect of different building operation strategies.

The present work focuses on investigating ways to enhance the energetic performance of buildings i.e. on proposing control strategies for managing energy in buildings. Therefore, control algorithms were tested using a prototype, composed of a building mock-up, a monitoring system and a data post-treatment software. The data acquisition system allows recording both mock-up indoor/outdoor temperatures and energy consumption. Two resistors serve as renewable and fossil fuel energy sources respectively.