Ventilation performance and indoor air pollutants diagnosis in 21 French low energy homes

• Published in: The International journal of ventilation 2018-07, Vol.17 (3), p.187-195
• Main Authors: Guyot, Gaëlle, Melois, Adeline, Bernard, Anne-Marie, Coeudevez, Claire-Sophie, Déoux, Suzanne, Berlin, Sandra, Parent, Enora, Huet, Alexis, Berthault, Sylvain, Jobert, Romuald, Labaume, Damien
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Civil Engineering; Construction durable; Eco-conception; Engineering Sciences; Environment and Society; Environmental Sciences; indoor air quality; low energy single-family homes; measurements; Mechanics; Risques; Thermics; Ventilation
• ISSN: 1473-3315; 2044-4044
• DOI: 10.1080/14733315.2017.1377393

An important challenge for low energy buildings lies in the need to master airflows through the building envelope. This paper describes a campaign on 21 low-energy houses. First, we carried out an aeraulic measurement campaign on every dwelling including visual survey, airflow or pressure at the air-vents, ventilation duct airleakage, and acoustics measurements. Then, we selected 10 dwellings to carry out an indoor air quality winter campaign. This campaign included outdoor and indoor measurements of temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, chemical pollutants (VOC, aldehydes). Inhabitant habits and building influence were studied through a complementary questionnaire survey. With this campaign, we were able to identify ventilation dysfunctions and to compare them with the national statistics on dwelling stock. The second part of the measurement campaign allowed us also to identify links between aeraulic diagnoses and indoor pollutant measurements.