SINTEF study finds ventilation standards insufficient for urban apartments

SINTEF reports that current minimum ventilation requirements in TEK are insufficient for good indoor air quality in urban apartments.

• Main announcement/action: SINTEF’s Urban Ventilation project (a competence project funded by EnergiX and business partners) conducted laboratory tests and simulations and finds that current minimum requirements are inadequate: standard forced kitchen extraction of 108 m³/h failed to capture cooking emissions in tests, while increasing to 180 m³/h gave large improvements; for bathrooms 75 m³/h is sufficient for moisture removal. The project included partner Røroshetta, laboratory tests at SINTEF (including preparing 72 salmon dinners), and produced the report “Urban ventilasjon. Ventilasjon for godt inneklima i urbane boliger” (linked in sources).
• Background and other details: Tests show exhaust-to-outside systems remove pollutants far more effectively than recirculating solutions; tested filters poorly removed ultrafine particles and gases. The project recommends updating test standards to document performance at multiple airflows (e.g., 108 – 180 – 250 m³/h) and developing realistic aging tests for filters. Key named contributors: Kari Thunshelle (SINTEF), Håvard Augensen (Røroshetta), and researchers from UiO.