Recent changes in the Korean climate have led to an increase in ventilation load and building energy consumption. This study focuses on the operation of a ventilation system integrated with an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) and a hybrid desiccant system in an attempt to reduce energy consumption in buildings under the Korean climate. The ERV and hybrid desiccant system are each suitable for reducing sensible and latent loads and saving building energy in the Korean climate, which is hot and humid in summer and cold and dry in winter. The energy performance of ERV was measured and analyzed. The efficiency of the ventilation system, building energy, and indoor air quality were simulated by EnergyPlus 8.7. A ventilation strategy was suggested for the Korean climate based on both measurement and simulation results. The winter ventilation strategy, which includes indoor humidity control of 30%, and constant ERV operation with frost protections (such as recirculating exhaust air and bypassing outdoor air), was shown to save 23% of heating energy. The summer ventilation strategy, which includes an ERV & hybrid desiccant system and fixed enthalpy economizer control saved 22.5% of cooling energy.

Generally, the cooling loads of buildings with interior blinds are greater than those of buildings with exterior blinds. This is caused by convective and infrared heat gain from the blind and the air gap between the blind and the window’s inner surface. The aim of this study is to determine the optimum thermal properties of an interior blind that can generate the minimum window heat gain. Therefore, we analyzed the detailed window heat gain with several variables of window blinds. In addition, we found the best performance case in terms of the combination of the solar reflectance and the infrared emissivity that has the minimum window heat gain according to the different slat angles. We used the EnergyPlus software V.8.1 verified according to the ANSI/ASHRAE standard 140-2011 to analyze the detailed window heat gain. The results of this study informed the following conclusions. Increasing the solar reflectance of both sides of the blind slat is advantageous to reduce the window heat gain with the interior blind, regardless of the blind slat angle. Moreover, increasing the infrared emissivity of both sides of the blind slat is the best way to reduce the window heat gain in the case of the blind slat angle of 0°. However, in other cases, the best way to reduce the window heat gain is to increase the infrared emissivity of the front side of the blind slat and decrease the infrared emissivity of the back side of the blind slat.