In 2005, the Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems (ECBCS) program approved the start of a new four-year research project on building commissioning. Annex 47, on “Cost-Effecti

Highly efficient thermal insulation of the building envelope demands for layers up to 40 cm thickness.This often causes problems regarding architecture and loss of space, especially in building renovation.An attractive alternative is the recently introduced vacuum insulation panel (VIP) having a 5 to 8 timeslower thermal conductivity than conventional thermal insulation. Aging effects and service life arecrucial aspects of those high performance insulation systems, as gas permeation through theenvelope barrier may drastically reduce the insulation efficiency.

This paper analyzes the indoor hygrothermal loads measured in 27 detached houses and in 13apartments. A survey was conducted during the years 2003-2006 in Estonia. The temperature andrelative humidity (RH) were continuously measured in bedrooms, living rooms, and outdoors at onehour intervals. For the hygrothermal analysis, the determined design curve of the moisture excess forhouses with low occupancy on the higher 10 % critical level was +4 g/m3 during the cold period(Tout ? +5 C) and +1.5 g/m3 during the warm period (Tout ? +15 C).

The use of artificial lighting in the office buildings has significant contribution on total energyconsumption of the building. With the increase in the price of energy and public becoming moreenergy conscious, more attention has been given to the energy efficient lighting.

In this paper, we discuss the characteristics, of diatomite, a moisture-absorbent material used for anew air-conditioning system. Diatomite powder is formed into grains (diameter: 8 mm) with a slantrotatingprocessing machine. After that, the grains are baked. Small balls (diameter: 45 mm) are thenformed from the grains, and are used as moisture-absorbent materials for cells in a moistureabsorbentdehumidifying ventilation device. Gross moisture conductivity (GMC) of the small balls wasmeasured under two conditions.

The indoor climate plays a key-role in relation to sustainable building. Often measured or simulatedtime series are used for the evaluation of indoor climate performances. Analyzing these data might bea problem due to the lack of proper visualization tools. In this paper, we introduce a new way tovisualize long-term (seasonal) and detailed (less than 1 hour) measured or simulated indoor climatedata compared to demanded criteria in a single chart: the Climate Evaluation Chart (CEC).Furthermore, the use of CECs is demonstrated by two case studies: (1) Preservation priority.

Recent studies predict a dramatic increase of cooling energy demand in Europe, despite the availableknowledge and technologies of passive cooling. The international project KeepCool addressed thisgap, searching for intelligent ways to promote the market penetration of passive cooling technologiesand a new definition of sustainable summer comfort based on the adaptive comfort model. The projecttailored the available information into a toolkit for building owners, planners and building users.

Vegetation on the building envelope can have a marked effect on the microclimate and on the building’s energy behavior as well. In this paper, the impact of planted roofs on the thermal load of buildings is presented. Based on measurements and a series of

Heat and mass transfers in building materials influence the thermal properties and performances ofthe materials more especially as they are porous. This paper deals with the case of various porousbuilding materials (Aerated Autoclaved Concrete, Hemp Concrete and Vertically Perforated Brick)studied by an experimental approach. A cell of exchange makes it possible to impose on a sample,gradients of temperature and relative humidity variables as function of time. The performances ofthese materials are thus deduced from the evolution of T and %RH in several positions.

In order to compare a hybrid lighting system with automatic control to a traditional lighting system withmanual control, a subjective assessment study was carried out in two rooms at the TechnicalUniversity of Istanbul. In the test room, a light shelf system equipped with automatic control wasinstalled and in the reference room, a manually controlled traditional lighting system was installed. Therooms were occupied by 20 subjects for specific periods of time, at the end of which, paper-basedquestionnaires were introduced.