Potential measures and improvements in energy consumptions regarding ventilations systems with heat recovery

Abstract: The ventilation system is in itself a huge necessity in our everyday life as it provides sufficient amount of fresh air to our indoor climate, while it simultaneously circulates the residing air pollutants out of the building. Although, for this to be made possible, large amounts of energy is required to be consumed, which in turn leads to an increased energy cost. The knowledge to minimize the use of energy occurs in many different scopes of practices throughout our society. Many people however, avoid such measures due to the high initial costs which are presented, but also because they haven't enough awareness of how they should rectify the problem. The Study is mainly based on researching previously performed measures of system upgrades in the ventilation industry regarding ventilation systems with heat recovery, while understanding the different elements that influences the choice to either upgrade or renovate the already existing system. The implementation of thesis happened through information gathering, a literature study and a qualitative research, which in this case were interviews. The literature study consisted of scientific reports, evaluations and a couple of digital sources which were relevant to the subject we were focusing on. The interviews on the other hand were conducted with experienced officials and employees in the ventilation industry, with the purpose of having a better understanding behind the reason of a system being upgraded. The final results of the study indicated that the most common reason why a costumer/property owner sought an upgrade or renovation of the ventilation system was mainly because of contamination in the heat exchanger, which in return increased the energy consumption while at the same time impaired the indoor climate.