Partner und Internationale Organisationen
(Englisch)
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BRE (GB), CSTS (B), SBI (DK), TNO (NL),TU Delft (NL), NBI (N), J&W (SE), WBG (GB)
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Abstract
(Englisch)
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This seven nation pan-european project aims to reduce primary energy consumption (and consequently CO2 emissions) in buildings by:
(a) providing solutions to barriers which prevent the uptake of natural ventilation and low-energy cooling in countries with moderate and cold climates, and
(b) encouraging and accelerating the use of natural ventilation and 'smart' controls as the main design option in new-designs and major refurbishments of office-type buildings.
This project is targeted at countries with low winter and moderate summer temperatures and where summer overheating from solar and internal gain can be significantly reduced by low-energy design and good natural ventilation. An additional priority are natural ventilation solutions to buildings in urban areas where external air pollution and noise levels are regarded as being high.
The project is divided into three work packages:
· The first work package is aimed at identifying perceived barriers to natural ventilation through in-depth structured interviews among leading designers and decision makers (architects, consultant engineers, contractors, developers, owners and governmental decision makers) throughout the seven countries. A european-wide questionnaire has been produced and interviews in all the seven countries have been carried out.
The survey was carried out in Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland. The survey concluded that, in the future, there will be an increase in the use of natural ventilation in buildings. The survey also identified a lack of knowledge and experience on specially designed natural ventilation in office buildings compared with the knowledge and experience on mechanical ventilation. In addition, the results showed that there is, currently, a lack of information on natural ventilation in standards and guidelines and also a lack of published data on case studies of the per-formance of buildings which incorporate natural ventilation. Furthermore, there is a significant requirement for simple, easy-to-use tools which can be used to design, in particular, calculation rules for natural ventilation, and easy-to-use simple and advanced computer programs which address the different issues associated with natural ventilation design in buildings.
· The second work package evaluated the performance of existing ad-hoc buildings designed and constructed specifically as energy-efficient naturally ventilated buildings. 19 such buildings within the 7 EU countries have been monitored. Parameters such as temperature, indoor velocity, humidity, CO2-concentration and ventilation rates have been measured in the 19 buildings.
Based on the experience from the 19 case studies some general conclusions and key messages can be drawn up:
1. Key challenge is to achieve comfortable buildings which are moreover energy efficient;
2. It is essential to understand the different meanings of natural ventilation;
3. Ventilation in winter is optimisation of indoor air quality and energy efficiency;
4. The required air flow rates for summer comfort are much higher than for IAQ control and the thermal mass of the building must be accessible;
5. Summer comfort requires much more than intensive ventilation;
6. Estimating the air flow rates is a small part of the achievement of a successful design;
7. The creation of an attractive environment for innovation is extremely important;
8. Natural ventilation can be an attractive option, NOT the only option.
· The third work package is aimed at developing 'smart' naturally ventilated technology systems and component solutions to overcome barriers identified. This is being done through laboratory tests, field measurements and simulations in the following specific activities:
Activity 1: Air supply components - to develop specifications and design solutions for natural ventilation air supply components for use with high external pollution and noise loads;
Activity 2: Constant (natural) air-flow inlets to identify and specify conditions under which newly-developed natural ventilation 'smart' constant air inlets can provide acceptable indoor air quality for occupants health and comfort in offices;
Activity 3: Advanced natural ventilation system as with heat recovery to develop systems which can provide natural ventilation in cold climates and to recover heat without incurring an acceptable high energy consumption;
Activity 4: 'Smart' components and 'intelligent' controls for optimal night cooling (led by the Technical University Delft) - to develop natural ventilation systems and controls suitable for optimal night cooling;
Activity 5: Integration of 'smart' systems for year-round to address and define robust performance specifications for integrated performance of 'smart' systems for optimum year-round performance.
The Swiss partner collaborated in the work packages 1, 2 and the work package 3 activity 5.
The most illustrative and exhaustive public domain output of the NatVent project is the CD-Rom, which contains all the informations and reports about the project. A copy of CD-Rom can be obtained in Switzerland from the Swiss partner Sulzer Infra Lab AG.
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