The Effects of an Adaptive Ventilation Control System on Indoor Air Quality and Energy Consumption

Vasilica Vasile (), Vlad Iordache, Valentin Mihai Radu, Cristian Petcu and Claudiu-Sorin Dragomir
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Vasilica Vasile: National Institute for Research and Development in Constructions, Urbanism and Sustainable Spatial Development “URBAN-INCERC”, 266 Pantelimon Road, 021652 Bucharest, Romania
Vlad Iordache: CAMBI Research Center, Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, 66 Pache Protopopescu Blvd., 021407 Bucharest, Romania
Valentin Mihai Radu: CAMBI Research Center, Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, 66 Pache Protopopescu Blvd., 021407 Bucharest, Romania
Cristian Petcu: National Institute for Research and Development in Constructions, Urbanism and Sustainable Spatial Development “URBAN-INCERC”, 266 Pantelimon Road, 021652 Bucharest, Romania
Claudiu-Sorin Dragomir: National Institute for Research and Development in Constructions, Urbanism and Sustainable Spatial Development “URBAN-INCERC”, 266 Pantelimon Road, 021652 Bucharest, Romania

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-23

Abstract: Indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy consumption (Q) are well-known building estimators, but they are used separately. Energy consumption is used during the design stage, while IAQ is used during operation. The novelty of our approach is that we propose using both estimators simultaneously during building operations. The purpose of this study was to find an adaptive ventilation strategy that maintained good indoor air quality with minimal energy consumption. The second novelty of our approach consists of IAQ estimation. While the operation of ventilation systems depends only on the indoor carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration at present, our novel approach uses a more global IAQ index that includes four different air pollutants. Physical models are used for the hourly prediction of the two indices: global IAQ and Q. This study presents a comparative analysis of several ventilation operations strategies: fixed versus adaptive. The main findings show that a decrease in the ventilation rate, n a , from 3.5 h −1 to 2.0 h −1 leads to a diminishment in energy consumption of 42.9%, maintaining the global IAQ index under the limited health risk value (VRL). Moreover, an adaptive ventilation strategy of n a , maintaining the global IAQ index value under VRL, achieves a further reduction in energy consumption of 72.9%, highlighting its efficiency.

Keywords: building ventilation; indoor air quality; sustainable energy consumption; human health; adaptive control; variable pollutant releases (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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