Build it Tight and Ventilate Right: High Performance, Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery

In both retrofit and new construction, we are now building high-performance, low-energy envelopes to address the immediacy of climate change. To do so, our buildings are becoming increasingly air tight, toward the Passive House standard. ‘Build Airtight and Ventilate Right’ discusses the importance and benefits of properly balanced, filtered, continuous ventilation with heat recovery in high performance projects.

By using mechanical heat recovery ventilation (HRV) and energy recovery ventilation (ERV) systems to provide oxygenated fresh air to occupants, we can control how much air is brought in, supply and exhaust it to/from desired zones, and improve the quality of that air, while reducing the amount of energy needed to heat that incoming air. HRV and ERVs come in many forms.

We discuss through-wall pendulum HRVs and centralized cross-counterflow systems. These systems have been shown to have cognitive benefits to occupants and can reduce the risk of mold in buildings.