LEARNING KEY OUTCOME

A total of 5 sections would be covered in this presentation:

Section 1: Can We Meet The Ventilation Required In International Standards In An Energy Efficient Way?  
The present paper provides an overview and discusses the criteria used for specifying required ventilation rates, and suggest ways of meeting the criteria in a more energy efficient way by means of improved ventilation effectiveness, use of air cleaning and by means of demand controlled ventilation

Section 2: Occupant Behavior & the Influence on Energy Use
Technologies alone do not necessarily guarantee low energy buildings. Occupant behaviour plays an essential role in the design and operation of buildings, but it is quite often oversimplified. Occupant behaviour refers to an occupant’s movement and responses to discomfort, when his/her comfort needs are not met. Occupant behaviour varies with time, space, individual, and is influenced by social context. It is stochastic, complex, and multidisciplinary. Having a better understanding and modelling of occupant behaviour in buildings can improve the accuracy of building simulations and guide the design and operation of buildings. This talk highlights related behaviour research at various institutes.

Section 3: Indoor Environment – Health, Comfort & Productivity
The paper presents an update on today’s requirement for a healthy and comfortable environment. The paper will mainly be dealing with the indoor thermal environment and air quality. Several standards and guidelines are specifying requirements related to comfort and to health; but the productivity of people is not taken into account. Recent studies showing that comfortable room temperatures, increased ventilation above normal recommendation, reduction of indoor pollution sources and more effective ventilation increases the performance of people. The results indicate increase of productivity of 5-10 %. Also based on the laboratory studies a 10 % increase in dissatisfaction decreases the productivity with around 1 %.

Section 4: Are Women Feeling Colder Than Men In A/C Buildings?
Recently the international media like in USA, Canada, UK, Denmark, Germany etc. has been discussing the issue of differences between men and women regarding thermal comfort and the preferred room temperature.  Experiments show that men and women prefer almost the same thermal environments. Women’s skin temperature and evaporative loss are slightly lower than those for men, and this balances the somewhat lower metabolism of women. The reason that women often prefer higher ambient temperatures than men may be partly explained by the lighter clothing normally worn by women.

Section 5: International Standards On IEQ – Do They Apply Worldwide?
On the international level ISO, CEN and ASHRAE are writing standards related to the indoor environment. This presentation will focus on the development of standards for the indoor thermal environment and indoor air quality. In the future, recommendations for acceptable indoor environments will be specified as classes. This allows for national differences in the requirements and also for designing buildings for different quality levels. This will require a better dialogue between the client (builder, owner) and the designer. It is also being discussed how people can adapt to accept higher indoor temperatures during summer in naturally ventilated (free running) buildings. Several of these standards have been developed mainly by experts from Europe, North America and Japan, thus guaranteeing a worldwide basis.  Are there, however, special considerations related to other parts of the world (lifestyle, outdoor climate, and economy), which are not dealt with in these standards and which will require revision?


SPEAKER

PROFESSOR BJARNE W. OLESEN

Since 1993 until January 2004 Head of Research & Development at UPONOR-VELTA GmbH KG & Co., Norderstedt, Germany. Since January 2004 Head of Research & Development at UPONOR-VELTA GmbH KG & Co., Norderstedt, Germany. Since January 2004 full professor in Indoor Environment & Energy at the Technical University of Denmark and director of the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University of Denmark.  Awarded the Ralph Nevins Award (1982), Distinguished Service Award (1997), Fellow Award (2001) and Exceptional Service Award (2006) from ASHRAE. Awarded the Medal of Honour from the German Engineering Society (VDI-TGA, 2005) and International Honorary Member of SHASE. The Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan. Vice president of ASHRAE and Honorary member of AICARR (Italian Society for HVAC) Is active in several ASHRAE-CEN-ISO-DIN standard committees regarding indoor environment and energy performance of buildings and HVAC systems. Has published more than 350 papers including more than 60 in peer reviewed journals.