Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation Systems, Design Workshop and Certification Procedures

To finish up the module this semester, I would like to thank David McHugh from ProAir, who gave a very informative talk on mechanical heat recovery ventilation systems to the M.Sc. class and Year 4 of the B.Sc. in Architectural Technology. Passipedia again provides an excellent starting point when examining the ventilation and heating requirements of a passive house. Some key points when considering the design and installation of a mechanical heat recovery ventilation systems are: 75% minimum efficiency requirement; total ventilation electricity demand to be not greater than 0.4Wh/m3; uncertified (by the Passive Institute) HRV system must take 12% off the product efficiency figure. The latest video produced by Energy Quarter on HRV systems in passive houses seems to have been taken down off YouTube but I will post it as soon as it becomes available.

Also, many thanks to Cathal Spellman of passivehouseplans.ie for coming in and hosting the design workshop where the students had the opportunity to discuss their project proposals. Cathal gave a clear outline of the reasons he decided to branch into the area of passive house and how this has created some new business for the company.

Finally, some information on the procedures for applying for certification are provided by the wonderful resource that is Passipedia.

Week 10 Pecha Kucha and Poster Presentation for next week

In preparation for both the Pecha Kucha session and your poster presentation, have a look at the following resources: NUI, Galway have put together a nice site providing design tips for poster presentations including some useful videos; Colin Purrington's section on poster design has a number of good tips and links; the Cornell Centre for Materials Research have some good points in this presentation although I would not worry about picking a software program as PowerPoint should do fine. Have a look at the following videos for some useful guidance but remember that we want an A0 poster in portrait not landscape.

For the Pecha Kucha, remember what I said in class...practice makes perfect. Have a look at the homepage to browse through some of the resources available. We might even video you next week if you are really good. The main aim is to have a bit of fun but also to avoid 'Death by PowerPoint' as the following videos demonstrate.