Sustainable building design has received increased attention over recent years and the use of natural ventilation in non-domestic buildings has been integral to this forward-looking issue. Natural ventilation design has been assisted by the availability of computer-based simulation techniques capable of predicting aspects of building design such as thermal comfort and air quality.
A recent European project explored combinations of radiative and evaporative cooling processes involving the roof for application in the Mediterranean region. The paper introduces the experimental applications which were built and tested as part of the project and the design considerations and applicability data derived from simulation models validated with the experimental results
The construction of dwellings for people with low incomes in developing countries encompasses a broad range of issues starting from the choice of the building site, to the construction phase and finally to the evaluation of the building itself. For tropical climates, the thermal evaluation of low-cost dwellings should be primarily related to the optimization of internal comfort conditions. Nevertheless, from the financial point of view, the improvement of thermal comfort conditions in low-cost housing should not result in a substantial increase in the final building costs.
The European NatVent project, "Overcoming Technical Barriers to Low Energy Natural Ventilation in Office Type Buildings in Moderate and Cold Climates" is completed. Of particular interest was the targetting of building and countries where summer overheating from solar and internal gain can be significantly reduced by low energy design and good natural ventilation. In addition, natural ventilation solutions to buildings located in urban areas where external air pollution and noise levels are usually regarded as being high were addressed.
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