Comparison of the Performance of a whole house low energy ventilation system in contrasting climatic regions

McEvoy, an architect, has developed low carbon ventilation systems research over ten years. This paper describes outputs from two projects: the one million euro, three-year, EU 5th Framework project 'RDPCLEVS: A Complete Low Energy Ventilation System', and the EPSRC-funded project 'The Use of Windows for Pre-heating Ventilation to Buildings', coordinated by McEvoy from 2001. These entailed systems installation and monitoring in Ireland, Denmark and Poland. This definitive description of the project’s monitored results and comparison with computer simulations is significant as the first time ‘supply air’ windows were combined with extract ducts to form a passive whole-house ventilation system. This achieves good indoor air quality and energy efficiency, a significant contribution to zero carbon housing. ‘Supply air’ windows have been used before in cold climates. What was established in this study is their value in more temperate zones. The technology is the only whole-house ventilation device in existence that reclaims heat from the ventilation air and is a future contender with mechanical ventilation systems. Test dwellings in Denmark and Poland were rigorously monitored and results compared with computer simulation models derived from previous research. In each of the dwellings, test and control records were kept of indoor airflow and comfort conditions, and the amount of energy being supplied for heating in winter. The installation design was established by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis and by a dynamic simulation using the energy modelling software ESP-r. The system was re-named ‘Dwell-Vent’ and has successfully become Dwell-Vent Ltd. with McEvoy as the Managing Director. McEvoy’s research is cited in F. Karlsson’s 'Multi-dimensional approach used for energy and indoor climate evaluation applied to a low energy building', Linkoping Studies in Science and Technology, 2006:1065, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Linkoping University, Sweden.