Ventilation requirements in non-domestic buildings and energy efficiency

Abstract This paper focuses on the importance of the level of ventilation requirements on the energy demand of non-domestic buildings. At present, we observe a tremendous difference in the ventilation requirements in various countries as well as at the European level. Variations by a factor of 10 of the ventilation rate requirement can be found in the proposal for European standard CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) prENV 1752 depending on the ‘cleanness’ of the building. The present paper develops these problems and makes a comparison with the situation in other areas like thermal comfort and lighting requirements. Results of a practical case study are included.