Demand-controlled ventilation in new residential buildings: Consequences on indoor air quality and energy savings

This study revealed that decreasing the flow rate to 0.1 l·s–1·m–2 for more than 4 h in an unoccupied newly built building creates unacceptable IAQ in terms of volatile organic compounds concentration. Hence, if the duration of unoccupancy in the building is more than 4 h, it is recommended to increase the ventilation rate from 0.100 l·s–1·m–2 to 0.375 l·s–1·m–2 before the home is occupied. The study showed that when the investigated building was vacant for 10 h during weekdays, increasing the ventilation rate 2 h before occupants arrive home (low ventilation rate for 8 h) creates acceptable IAQ conditions. In this system, the heating requirements for ventilation air and electricity consumption for the ventilation fan were decreased by 20% and 30%, respectively.
Source: Indoor and Built Environment - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: Original Papers Source Type: research