A comprehensive overview of ventilative cooling and its role in the standardisation

Ventilative cooling is a free cooling methodology, harnessing the cooling potential of the outdoor air to remove excess heat, without the use of thermodynamic process, thereby saving valuable cooling energy in buildings. In future zero energy buildings it is essential to lower the energy consumption for cooling and here ventilative cooling is one good option. Further, for airflows beyond the basic ventilation requirements to provide cooling can be considered part of the renewable energy calculation as indicated by EU 2022/759 Directive, hence underlining the sustainability aspects of ventilative cooling using outside air for cooling.  
Further, in order for ventilative cooling to become an increasingly used technology it is essential to ensure integration into standards, legislation and compliance tools. In standards, this is further complicated by the fact that there are both performance, design and operation standards and here ventilative cooling is not yet present in “design standard”. There are specifically projects ongoing in CEN/TC 156 and ISO/TC 205, to make new “design standards”, ensuring a design methodology to design ventilative cooling systems in buildings. A new methodology for estimating the ventilative cooling potential in the early feasibility phase with 4 different Ventilative cooling modes (0-3), in order to estimate if the outdoor air can be used for cooling, which is presented in the forthcoming European Technical specification called “Ventilative cooling systems - design”. 
For legislation and compliance tools there is lacking better integration of air flow predictions and the adaptive comfort approach supporting variable comfort temperatures, depending on the mean running outside temperature.  
Ventilative cooling being a free cooling methodology needs to be better supported in standards, legislation and compliance tools and this is done with new standardisation projects and better awareness raising.