The LARES Housing and Health survey conducted in representative samples of eightEuropean towns provides substantial data from 3,373 households about housingconditions and the health of 8,519 residents. We assessed the relation between residentialthermal comfort, weather-tightness, ventilation, mould or dampness and some commondiseases and symptoms. We observed that reporting bad health was significantlyassociated with temperature, weather-tightness and mould or dampness problems.Asthma was significantly linked with mould or dampness, temperature, and ventilationproblems.

This paper presents a multicriteria decision-making model for lifespan energy efficiencyoriented intelligent buildings (IBs) assessment. The model called IBAssessor isdeveloped using the theory of analytic network process (ANP) method, and a set oflifespan performance indicators, which are selected by a new quantitative approach calledenergy-time use index (ETI).

This paper presents a conceptual design of a Performance Benchmarking System (PBS)for buildings called Buildings PBS, which aims to create an online knowledge-basedsystem for the life-cycle performance assessment of buildings. The research presented inthis paper is based on the concern that the performances of buildings are vital for bothwell-being and energy saving throughout their life-cycle. In order to achieve theBuildings PBS, this paper describes several research essentials such as the methodology,the deliverables, and the demonstration.

This work evaluates the performance of different façade solutions, comparing simulation results of glass type and (internal and/or external) solar protection, in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For the simulations, it was considered as

The fundamental proposition in this work is to introduce alternatives and technicalrecommendations to improve thermal comfort and low energy through architecturaldesign in healthcare spaces of obstetrical suites. It analyzes lighting and air conditioningplanning issues and the specific circumstances of the women and the newborn'shealthcare components to high quality birth care.

With the UK commercial sector only replacing buildings at 1-1.5% per year adaptationsto existing buildings are needed to maintain comfort levels, while reducing energy useand carbon emissions. In this study, occupants of a refurbished office recorded theirthermal sensations, assessment of lighting and air movement, perceptions of comfort andtheir reactions to adaptive opportunities. The observed mean thermal sensation votes andthe overall comfort votes correlated best with mean diurnal internal and externaltemperatures, respectively.

The present work was developed in 2005 in a Brazilian region of hot and humid climatewith volunteers performing sedentary activity. The predicted mean votes (PMV) , thethermal sensation votes (TSV) and the thermal preference votes (TPV) were acquired andcalculated according to the standards ISO7726 ISO7730 and ISO10551. PMV and TSVdid not show good correlation in naturally ventilated buildings. Differences were alsofound in those environments with the application of the methodologies proposed byHumphreys and Nicol and Fanger and Toftum.

The roadmap for energy efficiency measures in the existing building stock was developedwithin the framework of the European Intelligent Energy Europe programme or moreprecisely in the project ENPER-EXIST, which started in January 2005 and ended in June2007. The project can be summarised as follows:The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) set a series of requirementsspecifically dedicated to existing buildings. But the Member States were facing difficultiesto implement some of them.

The paper deals with the concept of passive house in relation to the inside environmentand compares passive house and bioclimatic design. Bioclimatic design is an integral partof eco building oriented interventions in the built environment. The main goal of thepassive house is to reduce heating energy consumption to less than 15 kWh/m2 per year.To reach this goal triple glazing is needed and consequently daylighting illumination isreduced. But the concept of alienating people from the natural environment is according tomany studies harmful to health and consequently to productivity.

The Eco-Culture project has been set up to demonstrate the use of energy efficienttechnologies integrated into new built high-performing cultural buildings. The reason isobvious as there is a need for knowledge about the various ways to improve theenvironmental performance of these types of cultural buildings across Europe. Threeremarkable buildings are included in this project:?? The Royal Danish Playhouse, Copenhagen, Denmark.?? The new Public Library, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.??