Get Sust! Issue 36

Flexible design keeps door open to passive cooling

Passive cooling relies on cooler night-time air to ventilate buildings, but what’s to be done if the effects of climate change mean warmer nights?

Researchers in Switzerland and Denmark have been studying this interesting question, and conclude that passive cooling is highly sensitive to changes in climatic conditions.

They selected eight representative locations across Europe, then used a degree-hours method combined with climate models such as those developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to assess likely night-time temperatures. Their results show that night-time cooling is unlikely to be sufficient to ensure thermal comfort in many Southern and Central European buildings, although - at least for the next few decades - passive cooling will still be acceptable in Central and Northern Europe.

Given that the buildings we are designing now should have a design life of more than 60 years, these results strongly suggest the need for flexible building design.

Learn more:

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"Impact of climate warming on passive night cooling potential", by N. Artmann et al., Building Research & Information, Volume 36, Issue 2 March 2008 (DOI: 10.1080/09613210701621919). View on-line at www.informaworld.com.