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Potential for Energy Conservation through Air Tightening of New Canadian Houses

Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ont., Canada

James T. Reardon

Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ont., Canada

The energy savings associated with the air-tightening of new houses equipped with exhaust-only ventilation systems are evaluated in this paper. Potential savings are identified that would result from reducing the leakage area of the envelopes of houses. For most regions of Canada, the air leakage through the envelopes is currently about the same order of magnitude as that needed for air quality. Further tightening would increase the need for supplementary ven tilation in most houses. The increased cost of ventilation using exhaust-only fans would offset potential savings due to reduced air leakage with tighter envelopes. It is recommended that this analysis be repeated to evaluate the role of the tighter envelope as a complement to heat recovery ventilation and demand-control ventilation systems.

Key Words: House design • Airtightness • Ventilation • Air leakage • Air change • Air quality • Energy conservation • Energy systems analysis • Normalized leakage area

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