Whole-house mechanical ventilation is a critical component to a comprehensive strategy for good indoor air quality. Smart ventilation controls balance energy consumption, comfort, and indoor air quality by optimizing mechanical ventilation operation to reduce the heating and/or cooling loads, improve management of indoor moisture, and maintain indoor air quality equivalence according to ASHRAE 62.2. Three approaches to smart ventilation control were investigated:
- Seasonal temperature-based smart ventilation control
- Occupancy timer-based smart ventilation control
- Real-time weather-based smart ventilation control.
The results of this project show potential for smart ventilation controls; however, currently only a small selection of smart ventilation systems is on the market. To enable savings and indoor air quality improvements from smart ventilation controls, a concerted commercialization effort needs to be undertaken by manufacturers and other stakeholders such as builders, contractors, and standards organizations.
However, the potential market size for smart ventilation controls is growing and could be as high as 600,000 to 700,000 homes per year, including new site-built code homes, new Housing and Urban Development-code manufactured homes, and newly weatherized low-income units. This research helped increase awareness of the potential of smart ventilation controls and prime the industry for eventual device development and implementation.
Read more about this success story in the technical report.