Review of energy conservation technologies for fresh air supply in zero energy buildings

Abstract

Abstract People spend about 90% of their time indoors. Fresh air supply in buildings can improve indoor air qualities and become a concern due to sick building syndrome (SBS) and the outbreak of the SARS. The most common method of cooling or heating fresh air is to use air handling units. However, there is often a large enthalpy difference between outdoor fresh air and indoor air, which leads to a large amount of energy consumption by fresh air systems. In order to achieve the goal of zero energy building, passive waste heat recovery equipment, active waste heat recovery systems and earth-air heat exchangers have been developed to handle fresh air. This paper presents a comprehensive review on energy conservation technologies for fresh air supply, including theoretical, experimental and simulation works. The advantages and disadvantages, economy and climate adaptability of different energy conservation technologies for fresh air supply in buildings are analyzed and discussed. And then challenges and future research directions of fresh air supply technologies are discussed. This paper aims to pave a way for future research and development in fresh air supply technologies for Zero energy buildings.