Review and prospect on advanced ventilation strategies for livable and sustainable buildings

Ventilation systems are widely implemented to provide clean and conditioned air for indoor air quality and thermal comfort, but are also responsible for the substantial energy consumption and carbon emissions of buildings. This study reviews the advanced ventilation strategies to promote the livability and sustainability of buildings. The advanced ventilation strategies are categorized into air distribution methods (i.e., improvements in existing air distribution method for heating, and newly developed air distribution methods including interactive cascade ventilation, graded ventilation, and adaptive ventilation), air supply methods (i.e., swirling air supply, vortex-ring air supply, co-flow air supply, targeting air supply, one dimensional dynamic air supply, and two dimensional dynamic air supply), air exit methods, ventilation control methods (i.e., control for vertically and horizontally non-uniform environments, intermittent demand-controlled ventilation, and occupancy-aided demand-controlled ventilation), and ventilation performance indices (highlighting elevated air velocity for thermal comfort, cooling effect of air movement for energy efficiency, and airborne infection risk control for indoor air quality). Mechanisms underlying the advanced ventilation strategies for high ventilation performance are revealed regarding five-level deepened demands and three extended demands. Research gaps and future work are outlined, targeting occupant demands centered, air utilization efficient, and adaptive advanced ventilation strategies with the aid of artificial intelligence technologies.