Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-05-19
Source: The Conversation – France in French (3)– By Gaëlle Guyot, Researcher in building physics, Cerema
From now on, the overall performance of buildings must integrate energy savings and indoor air quality (which must be free of pollutants, such as pathogenic microorganisms, like viruses). Ventilation systems play a key role. Beyond the old regulations that rely on the airflows characterizing these devices, it is necessary to develop more indicators to measure their effectiveness (whether based on carbon dioxide CO₂, humidity, or pollutants, in particular).
The construction sector faces multiple challenges related toenergy consumptionas well as the quality of theindoor air, which requires a global vision for both existing buildings and new constructions.
An essential condition for building or renovating energy-efficient buildings is to do so while maintaining a healthy and comfortable indoor environment, also keeping in mind future changes and use.
Combining comfort and energy performance would also help avoid conflicts that force, for example,arbitrate between energy savings and the risk of mold development.
Ventilation to meet the challenges of overall building performance
Faced with these overall performance challenges, the role of ventilation systems is essential. Indeed, when they are effective, ventilation systems replace stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air. They thus help improve the quality of indoor environments, prevent the accumulation of pollutants, excess humidity, as well as the presence of pathogens such as viruses, all while controlling energy losses related to heating and cooling the incoming air.
What is ventilation?
Ventilation: process by which “clean” air (generally outside air) is introduced in a controlled manner into a space and the stale air is removed. This can be done by natural means (natural ventilation) or mechanical means (controlled mechanical ventilation or CMV).
Intelligent ventilation: ventilation with continuous adjustment of flow rates over time and, possibly, according to location, to provide the desired indoor air quality while minimizing energy consumption.
Hygro-adjustable ventilation: intelligent ventilation that adjusts airflow rates over time according to humidity and location.