Renewables in Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality

Ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality is one of the key services a building provides to its occupants. Indoor air quality depends on a complicated interaction between pollutant sources in the building and key removal mechanisms such as ventilation. Renewable energy issues enter this picture through two important mechanisms: affecting pollutant sources, and providing ventilation. This overview paper is organized to address these two parts separately.

Many of the renewable technologies being considered to reduce the energy demand of buildings have the potential to affect the introduction of additional pollutant sources into the building, but also have the potential to reduce them when compared to many conventional designs. This additional introduction of pollutants could either endanger the indoor environment or create a sufficient parasitic energy demand to counteract any benefit of the technology. Ventilation can often be provided directly using renewable technologies, either passively or actively, but additional ventilation, even when provided passively, can increase the thermal load of the building. This report reviews the subject of indoor air quality with particular emphasis on the role and impact of renewables.

Sherman, Max and Hal Levin, 1996. "Renewables in Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality." (LBL-38258, UC-1600 Preprint), Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley.

RenewablesVentIAQ.pdf (PDF document 795Kb)

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Renewables in Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality