Issue 1/2026

The article outlines the effects of low relative humidity on potential infection transmission in healthcare facilities. It highlights informal requirements for humidification in hospital departments and presents types of humidifiers suitable for such a pplications.

The design of healthcare facilities in terms of ventilation and quality of indoor environment is not defined by any regulation or standard in the Czech Republic; only general recommendations are available. Foreign standards can therefore serve as guidance for designers. This article provides a brief overview of the ventilation and indoor environment requirements for healthcare facilities according to the German standard DIN 1946-4.

This paper deals with the external surface temperature of building enclosure. A calculation model was used in combination with measured data. The calculated and measured data are presented as the daily average difference between the external surface temperature and the ambient air temperature. Two types of green facades are compared with two conventional vertical walls without greenery. The temperature difference of green facades varied based on the irrigation frequency, type of plants, and actual condition of plants. When plants were in good health and watered daily, daily evapotranspiration compensated the daily absorbed solar radiation, so that the daily mean external surface temperature was close to the daily mean temperature of ambient air. Green facades with drought-tolerant plants and a weekly irrigation schedule exhibited surface temperatures similar to walls with ventilated cavity. For building walls without greenery, the daily mean difference between the external surface and the ambient air was consistently positive. The temperature difference of ventilated wall was approximately halved compared to unventilated wall.

The article comments on changes in the newly revised version of ČSN 73 0540-2 Thermal protection of buildings. Part 2: Requirements (2025). It deals with the assessment of heat transfer, assessment of moisture behavior of perimeter structures focused on using moisture-sensitive materials, and assessment of surface temperatures of built-in constructions. It also deals with the evaluation of airtightness, the evaluation of floors, and the thermal stability of buildings. It briefly comments on the informative annex with guidelines for building design.

The article presents a study focused on analysing the potential use of solar thermal energy in a local district heating system serving a specific urban district. Several energy simulations were carried out to assess the operation of different solar thermal systems with various collector areas and size of thermal storage (short-term and seasonal). The main characteristics of the systems are presented, including an evaluation of annual solar heat utilisation. Given the limited practical experience with large-scale solar thermal systems in the Czech Republic, the study assesses their potential for real-world integration into a district heating system with an annual heat supply of 3.5 GWh and a nominal supply/return temperature regime of 60/30 °C. In the analysed case, the solar thermal system can cover up to 48% of the heat demand when seasonal thermal storage is a pplied. With short-term thermal stora ge, the solar fraction reaches 17%.

The article, based on a case study, presents a perspective on the current method of assessing building energy performance with regard to heat sources using renewable energy, in various combinations of sources, in comparison to hea t sources using na tural gas, such as condensing gas boilers.

The article focuses on comparing selected smartphone applications for noise measurement with a calibrated sound level meter. Fourteen smartphone applications were selected and tested in the acoustic laboratory under different sound pressure levels. The measured values were then compared with those obtained from a calibrated sound level meter. The results show that the measurement accuracy varies significantly depending on the application and the type of device used. In some configurations, measurements taken with a smartphone were close to the reference values. However, most applications showed considerable deviations. The study highlights the need for caution when using smartphones for se rious noise measurement.