The suitability of night ventilation for cooling for the UK is first assessed by presenting plots of summer weather data on the bioclimatic chart for three locations within the country. These indicate that most of the external weather conditions lie within the thermal mass and ventilation effectiveness areas of the charts. To confirm this, thermal simulations of a typical office module under a variety of internal conditions and summer weather data were performed.
In temperate Australia, traditional solar houses usually aim at 60-80% solar contribution to the heating and cooling of the building. In Northern Europe, however, in order to reduce heating energy requirements further, the approach has generally been to provide high levels of insulation combined with a comparatively air tight construction.
The School of the Built Environment at De Montfort University represents the first in a new breed of naturally ventilated buildings. Bart Stevens reveals the findings of recent heat-load tests carried out to establish the effectiveness of the building's passive engineering.
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