Healthy Buildings 2012—Ventilation and Thermal Comfort

Abstract

We are delighted to produce this special issue of HVAC&R Research arising out of Healthy Buildings 2012—10th International Conference (HB2012), held July 7–12, 2012, in Brisbane, Australia. The Healthy Buildings series of conferences first started in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1988 and is one of the two flagship conferences of the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ). This and the Indoor Air series of conferences are central to ISIAQ’s commitment to foster the sharing of knowledge and networking of researchers, experts, professionals, and students in the area of indoor air sciences. ISIAQ is an international, independent, multidisciplinary, scientific, nonprofit organization whose purpose is to support the creation of healthy, comfortable, and productive indoor environments. HB2012 attracted 670 participants from 43 countries, with the largest delegations (apart from the host country— Australia) from China, Korea, Japan, and the United States. The technical program of the conference included 10 plenary presentations (3 of them—for the first time—of student presenters), 14 workshops (with 6 of them presented by ISIAQ’s STCs [Scientific and Technical Committees]), as well of 3 symposia that included three panel discussions each. More than 600 papers were presented as part of the technical program. Among the several themes and topics that the conference covered, this special issue focuses on ventilation and thermal comfort related papers, in which there were 92 and 86 papers, respectively. Out of these 178 papers, 31 were selected and the authors were invited to submit an expanded version of their papers presented at HB2012. The criteria for selection included novelty in the approach employed, sound methodology, and potential for an expanded article and good field studies with data that could support new and interesting hypotheses. This issue contains the following articles broadly classified into four categories: ventilation and health, ventilation, thermal comfort, and others. This issue also includes two articles that were not originally presented at HB2012 but fall in the domain of ventilation or thermal comfort.