Environmental assessment of building elements and buildings requires environmental data related to the entire life cycle of the materials, inventory tools and assessment models for environmental impacts important to buildings. For that reason environmental data have been collected for a number of building materials in a project linked to a major Danish project on Environmental Management in Building Design.
Indoor Air Quality analysis needs at first an accurate prediction of indoor pollutant concentration levels. However, most of pollutant concentration prediction models consider the pollutants as passive elements. Our study introduces the more common gas-phase chemical reactions occurring in indoor spaces. We developed a model taking into account more than 20 different reactions influencing the concentration level prediction of NOx compounds, ozone, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide from the knowledge acquired in the field of tropospheric chemistry.
With the improvement of thermal building Insulation the percentage of energy losses due to air exchange becomes an increasingly· important factor in building energy demand. In order to optimize infiltration and ventilation and to minimize the energy demand of low energy buildings, it is necessary to install an appropriate mechanical ventilation system. Different ventilation strategies can be used: Extract ventilation and supply I extract ventilation systems for buildings as well as single-zone ventilation units with or without heat recovery.
How should environmental profiles be used for construction materials? An environmental profile is a graphical presentation of environmental burdens. The concept may be used to present the results from a number of different stages within an LCA. The most effective use of profiles for materials and products in buildings has yet to be established; whether they should present raw data or data which have been interpreted and to what stage in the life of the material they should be applied.
This paper sets out the monitoring results of the York Energy Demonstration Project (YEDP), carried out under the UK Government's Greenhouse Programme. Energy savings of up to 50% were observed as a result of incorporating energy efficiency measures into housing modernisation programmes. The project also provided insights into a number of replication issues.
The goal of sustainable development will be impossible to achieve without realignment of value creation by business arid the public sector. The environmental impacts of building activities are serious. There is a need for new competencies, better information about the environmental attributes of buildings, and suitable tools with which to achieve better eco-efficiency in practice. An aggressive commitment to developing and spreading the use of the Eco Profile method will provide a cost-efficient and attitude-changing environmental policy tool.
The objectives of this paper are to review measurements of airtightness in two domestic refurbishment projects in England, and to attempt to determine the effects of basic construction method and approach to refurbishment on airtightness.
This paper reports on an experimental study dealing with the effects of an automatic shading device on the energetic performance of a dimmable lighting system and on a cooling system. Some equations related to fenestration thermal properties are reformulated under a theoretical approach. In order to collect field data, energy demands and other variables were measured at the "Test Tower" on two distinct floors with identical fenestration features. New data were gathered after adding an automatic shading device to the window of one of the floors.
The paper describes a pilot-study set up to identify links between internal environmental quality and perceived well-being in a 1970's higher educational building housing the Mackintosh School of Architecture. The supposition is that such links may in turn inhibit/promote greater productivity. The study embraces a variety of working situations for staff and students and explores levels of satisfaction and dissatisfaction by means of questionnaire.
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