I've installed an ERV in my house where it works very well at circulating fresh air into the house while preserving about 80% of the heat/cool content of the inside air that is exhausted.
The main purpose of an ERV is to exchange stale inside air with fresh outside air while preserving as much of the heat/cool content in the inside air as possible. A secondary use is to help control excessive humidity in the interior. The third thing they do is to filter the outside air being brought into the interior, but that's pretty minor. If you're not trying to solve either one of these first two problems you won't get much benefit from an ERV. An actually if you're trying to deal with humidity a plain old dehumidifier will work much better.