Camfil Farr believes that ventilation systems have a strong potential for energy savings and welcome the work accomplished by the European Commission towards the development of ecodesign requirements for air conditioning and ventilation systems – lot 6.

Further harmonisation of ventilation standards in buildings and the development of common standards is an important step towards improved energy efficiency and provides the ventilation industry with more certainty and incentives for investment and innovation. In this context, Camfil Farr would like to share some comments

and recommendations on the draft report on ecodesign measures for lot 6.

Camfil Farr strongly supports the fact that the better integration of indoor air quality in the development of energy efficiency policies for buildings and products is highly valuable to achieve EU policy objectives in terms of savings. However, the current sole focus on increased insulation of buildings and the overall priority on energy saving opportunities without taking its side effects into account could potentially compromise the health of building occupants.

In this context, DG SANCO experts have evaluated the indoor air pollution cost on public health at 2 million healthy days lost per year in Europe. DG SANCO has established the infiltration of outdoor combustion particles as the main cause of air pollution related diseases. Tighter building envelope and poor ventilation can

create the basis for confinement, making indoor environment 5 to 50 times more polluted than outdoor air. Without provisioning the energy needed to create healthy indoor environment, in the regulations on energy efficiency, the climate goal could have serious public health effects on a big part of the population.

Ventilation rates and air filtration are part of the solution to create healthy energy efficient indoor environment and have to be considered in buildings in order to create a sustainable move towards the goal of healthy energy efficiency. The required technology and knowledge exist as well as standards such as EN13779 or EN779 to ensure the use of the best filters for the specific purpose. Recent publications from CETIAT proved the EN 13779 for commercial buildings to be applicable to balanced ventilation systems in residential building. The required filtration level is achievable, keeping pressure drop and energy consumption low in commercially available systems. Therefore it is crucial to raise the requirement for good air filters when designing ventilation systems as the condition for both healthy indoor environment, energy efficiency and heat recovery.

Camfil Farr suggests these standards to become a minimal requirement to ensure that manufacturers use the best technology available to maximize energy savings and guarantee healthy indoor environments.

Provisions for maintenance shall be defined and communicated to installers and users by systems manufacturers, to ensure ventilation systems will deliver promised energy savings and healthy indoor environment after installation, during the use phase.

Since 1963 Camfil Farr designs high quality energy efficient filtration solutions that meet the needs of sustainable ventilation creating the right balance between healthy indoor air and energy savings.

Myriam TRYJEFACZKA

Camfil Farr Sustainability Manager

myriam.tryjefaczka@camfil.fr