In mild climates due to the increase of request of comfortof people there is a growing number of installation of low cost and low efficient cooling system even in new buildings. In designing low energy buildings it necessary nowadays to consider this trend and offer proper solution (envelope and plants) able to reduce the consumption of primary energy.

Goal of the study was to investigate the relation betweenthe level of ventilation and the performance of school children in classroomsIn one school in two classrooms the same ventilation system was installed. The two classrooms were located at the same faade. The system had a possibility of supplyingfull outside air to the classroom or the position with full recirculation of air.

Considering that natural ventilation is a climatic factor,a renewable alternative, as well as an important source of comfort, it seems to be relevant to consider its great potential when applied to architecture, taking into account economical and environmental gains. It is difficult to think about studying air circulation without mentioning the north Africa vernacular architecture and its ability to create the best solutions to increase the ventilation without any energy consumption, therefore, adopting passive cooling.

This paper introduces research being carried out to support effective energy efficient design in Egypt. It is based on deriving results of multiple parametric simulationsof energy performance of office buildings in Cairo and Alexandria. This is used to examine how to optimisepotential by reference to peak summer and winter loads. The outputs will later be used to inform the developmentof a decision support tool based on graphical interpretation.

In Asian countries under sultry climatic conditions includingJapan, natural ventilation and cross-ventilation at nighttime give very good effects on the improvement of physical conditions of the residents and on the coolingof the buildings in intermediate and summer seasons.However, a densely populated urban area such as Tokyo, sufficient ventilation flow rate may not be necessarily maintained because the distances between neighboring houses are shorter and also because of the problem to keep privacy of the residents between the windows, which are positioned face-to-face on wall surfaces.

Presently the assessment of the thermal behaviour and the energy efficiency of naturally ventilated double skin facades (DSF) is only possible by using complex simulationtools, which allow inter-connections between fluid dynamics, energy balances and optical transport mechanisms. The performance assessment of mechanicallyventilated DSF is slightly easier but still requires simulation tools.

In preparation of the implementation of the Energy Performanceof Buildings Directive (EPBD) the responsibleGerman Ministry has undertaken several actions includingthe developmentof a new energy performance calculationprocedure for non-residential buildings (DIN V 18599) and two field tests for the certificationof residential and non-residential buildings.This paper presents the main results of the evaluation of the field tests concerning the form and acceptance of the certificate,the necessary expertise of the issuers, the durationof the work, possible simplifications, etc.The second half o

This document aims to present the progress and the outcome of the research on double skin façades that is being carried out within the European ‘BESTFACADE’ project. Double skin facades have become an important architectural element in office buildings over the last 15 years. The demand for natural and hybrid ventilation in commercial buildings is increasing due to growing environmental consciousness while at the same time energy consumption for buildings has to be reduced.

In order to limit ventilation losses in low-energy buildings,balance ventilation systems with high-efficiency heat recovery units are often used. However, the effectivenessof the heat recovery system may be severely affectedby envelope leakage as the system can be short-circuited by uncontrolled airflows. Therefore, limiting envelope leakage becomes a critical issue in such low-energy buildings.However, in a typical French house, air leakage through and around windows represents 15 to 70% of the total leakage airflow through the building envelope.

The architectural product is influenced by a series of more general economical aspects such as people’s living standard, which includes not only a relative stability of the prices but also that of the family income.Therefore, the architectural product muc