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This paper presents two tools for evaluation of the indoor environment in social housing, developed as part of the REBUS project. The main aim of the paper is to present the tool, a questionnaire for evaluation of tenants’ perceived problems and satisfaction with the indoor environment. Based on the experience gained from a previous study that applied a similar questionnaire, a procedure for evaluation of the perceived indoor environment in social housing before and after a renovation work is proposed. The procedure includes a questionnaire and a distribution procedure of the questionnaire to the tenants to ensure the highest possible response rate. The questionnaire is intended to be used before the renovation work to identify the initially most pronounced indoor environment problems, thus allowing for a targeted problem solving adding the most value for the tenants. After the renovation work the questionnaire may be applied to document whether the defined goals for the indoor environment have been reached. The usefulness as well as some challenges in applying a questionnaire is exemplified by the results of an evaluation of the perceived indoor environment of a renovated social housing settlement.

Today the build environment accounts for about 40 % of the energy consumption in the EU and it is continuing to increase. It is a result of an effort to give the building users an optimum indoor environment. New buildings and renovation projects need to improve the energy performance and in a process of doing so, it is important to maintain a good and healthy indoor environment and not on the expense of it. One way of saving energy is to build passive houses. This paper presents the result of a case study of some of the first certified passive houses in Denmark, called the Comfort Houses. The paper evaluates the indoor environment through both quantitative measurements in the houses and qualitative interviews with the occupants about their experiences of the indoor environment. Two set of knowledge which together gives a more complete and holistic picture of the indoor environment. The study shows that we need an accentuated focus on the goal to aim for in the design process, the documentation of the designs and on the occupant’s life and behaviour. Finally it is important to “educate” the occupants to live “correct” to achieve comfortable indoor environment.

This report describes the results of the Comfort Houses measuring programme conducted by Aalborg University in the period 2008 to 2011. The results from the houses included in the project are examined in detail in 8 house-specific reports. All house-specific reports referred to in this report can be downloaded from www.vbn.aau.dk.Furthermore, some of the analyses in this report take as their starting point the analyses conducted in the report ‘Vurdering af indeklimaet i hidtidigt lavenergibyggeri – med henblik på forbedringer i fremtidens lavenergibyggeri’, published by Aalborg University in January 2011 (see list of references).