Mar 19, 2024

Eurovent Certification has welcomed the first products to be certified under the Eurovent Certified Performance programme for Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency (IAQVS). Developed alongside several European manufacturers, the programme covers mechanical ventilation systems for single-family homes and apartments with an air flow rate < 1000m3/h. The programme is designed to obtain a balance between the energy performance of systems, e.g. the heat loss induced by air renewal and consumption of the electric motor, and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) e.g. the ability to deal with humidity, and pollutants such as CO2 and formaldehyde.

The certification allows specifiers, designers, installers, and end users to identify residential ventilation products that improve IAQ and optimise energy consumption, something increasingly important as we strive to reduce the carbon footprint of homes. 
The systems certified include:

• Central, single flow (supply or exhaust) without heat recovery
• Central, double flow (balanced ventilation) with or without heat recovery
• Single-room, single flow (decentralised continuous ventilation for supply or exhaust)
• Single-room, double flow (balanced ventilation) with or without heat recovery.

The programme is aimed at manufacturers of both ventilation system components and entire systems.

How the certification works

The programme advances traditional ventilation certification by certifying a complete system, and not just the aeraulic performance of the products. To do this, data from ventilation system components is collected from the manufacturer, double checked by Eurovent Certita Certification, and then entered into a specially built, state-of-the-art simulation tool. A simulation is then undertaken, including parameters such as number of rooms, seasonality, climate, type of dwelling, number of occupants and the activities generated by the occupants in different rooms. Thousands of iterations are carried out during the simulation, until the convergence of indoor air quality and energy performance indicators.

For IAQ, three indicators are scored from 0 to 5, with 5 being the highest rating achievable. The three indicators are:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration indicator (ICO2) which represents air stuffiness.
• Air Relative Humidity (RH) indicator (IH2O) which represents the excess/lack of humidity in the air.
• Formaldehyde concentration indicator (IFOR) which represents the chemical pollution emitted by furniture and construction materials.

For energy performance, the following indicators are assessed:

• Energy consumption of the fan (Efan).
• Consumption induced by air renewal (Eheating).

For ease of use, all the indicators are represented in a label specific to each ventilation system, allowing specifiers, designers, installers, end users to easily identify the performance of certified products.

Want to know more?

To discuss the IAQVS programme, please contact Sébastien Raffier or find out more by visiting our website.

Plus, our free-to-use online certified product directory allows you to search for certified products within the IAQVS programme, and across our full range of certifications. Search, compare and select Eurovent certified products at www.eurovent-certification.com.