2011 Volume 36 Issue 172 Pages 9-16
Several methods have been proposed for energy saving in buildings. Installation of energy-recovery ventilators is an effective method for reducing the ventilation load and energy consumption by air conditioners. Manufactures must specify the performance and effectiveness of the ventilators and release the necessary specifications. However, very few studies have been carried out to evaluate the efficiency of energy-recovery ventilation in reducing power consumption by air conditioners installed residential/office buildings. In this paper, we discuss in brief a measurement survey of energy consumption reduction in the case of air-conditioning systems equipped with energy-recovery ventilators. The first floor of a two-story office building located in Gifu prefecture, a mild-climate region in Japan, is selected as the target. There are seven heat-pump air-conditioning systems and four duct-type ventilation systems with energy-recovery ventilator units on this floor. The measurement results confirm that with the use of energy-recovery ventilators, the energy consumption by air-conditioning systems can be reduced by approximately 30% in winter and 19% in summer.
