Well-designed housing uses ventilation to maintain a healthy indoor environment and to provide thermal comfort with a low carbon footprint. However, the methods for achieving these goals – be they natural/passive or mechanical/active – impose significantly different design requirements on the form, fenestrations, and internal zoning of the residence.
With that in mind, presenters, Thomas A. Gentry, AIA, LEED AP, CDT and Robert W. Cox, Ph.D. define the basic methods for providing effective ventilation and explore their implications in the overall design process. They also describe design aids ranging from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software to rules-of-thumb, and briefly review ANSI/ASHRAE 62.2-2010 - Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings. Lastly, they describe the work being done at the University of North Carolina Charlotte to couple whole-house fan-forced ventilation with real time power monitoring to reduce air conditioning loads. They will describe how this method could be well suited for existing and new housing throughout much of the United States.
This presentation draws from ongoing research at the University of North Carolina Charlotte that is funded in part by a U.S. Department of Energy Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program (WIPP) grant.
This presentation is a part of the ongoing Housing Knowledge Community research webinar series. View the complete series archive.