Passive cooling techniques for buildings. Potential of use within venezuela's climatic zones

The current paper presents the first outcome of a study dealing with thermal quality of buildings in a context of rationalized energy spending. It takes into account the significance of an integral treatment of the buildings envelope through the previous knowledge of the effects of specific passive cooling techniques. Simulations aimed to evaluate the climatic potential of some of these techniques where made, as a way for sitting down the bases for their application in accordance with Venezuelas varied climate. The firsts estimates provided promising results on the use of some of these techniques in order to complement design strategies for obtaining suitable levels of comfort while reducing energy spending. The methodology follows a simplified procedure based on valuation indexes developed by the University of La Rochelle in the framework of the Europeanprojects Pascool/Joule [Santamouris, M. et al. (1995)] and Altener/Sink [Alvarez, S. et al. (1997)]. This procedure gives the necessary information for developing design tools that could be use to improve indoor comfort at reasonable energy costs. The first of these tools should be a map of Venezuela in which designers could identify the best technique for each region.