Airtightness of Commercial and Institutional Buildings: Blowing Holes in the Myth of Tight Buildings

Published

December 1, 1998

Author(s)

Andrew K. Persily

Abstract

It is often assumed that commercial and institutional buildings are fairly airtight and that envelope air leakage does not have a significant impact on energy consumption and indoor air quality in these buildings. Furthermore, it is also assumed that more recently constructed buildings are tighter than older buildings. The fact of the matter is that very little data are available on the airtightness of building envelopes in commercial and institutional buildings. The data that do exist show significant levels of air leakage in these buildings and do not support correlations of airtightness with building age, size or construction. This paper presents the airtightness data that are available and the limited conclusions that can be drawn from these data.

Proceedings Title

Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Buildings VII : proceedings of the Conference

Conference Dates

December 6-10, 1998

Conference Title

Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Buildings

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

air leakage, airtightness, building envelope, building performance, infiltration, thermal envelope

Citation

Persily, A. (1998), Airtightness of Commercial and Institutional Buildings: Blowing Holes in the Myth of Tight Buildings, Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Buildings VII : proceedings of the Conference, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=860759 (Accessed April 20, 2024)