Passive Design Summary 4 - Passive Cooling

Natural Ventilation:

Natural ventilation is able to provide and move fresh air without

fans.
It can also help meet a buildings cooling loads without using
mechanical air conditioning systems for warm and hot climates.
A successful natural ventilation has high thermal comfort and
adequate fresh air for the ventilated spaces while having little or no
energy use for active HVAC cooling and ventilation.

When not to use natural ventilation:

Sites with high levels of acoustic noise.

Sites with poor air quality.

Quantifying ventilation effectiveness:

To measure the effectiveness of your ventilation strategies, you can
measure both the volume and speed of the airflow.
The volume of the airflow is important because it dictates the rate at
which stale air can be replaced by fresh air, and determines how much
heat the space gains or losses as a result. The volume of airflow due to
wind is:
Q_wind = K A V
Q_wind = airflow volumetric rate (m/h)
K = coefficient of effectiveness (unitless, see below)
A = opening area, of smaller opening (m)
V = outdoor uninterrupted wind speed (m/h)
The coefficient of effectiveness is a number from 0 to 1, adjusting for the
angle of the wind and other fluid dynamics factors, such as the relative
size of inlet and outlet openings. Wind hitting an open window at a 45
angle of incidence would have a coefficient of effectiveness of roughly 0.4,
while wind hitting an open window directly at a 90 angle would have a
coefficient of roughly 0.8.
When placing ventilation openings, you need to place both air inlets and
air outlets; often they do not have the same area. The opening area used
in this equation is the smaller of the two.
Air Speed and Temperature in Buildings:
In addition to volume, you should design for the wind speed inside your
building. Wind speed is a component of human comfort, and the speed
you want depends on the climate.

Higher velocity air causes more effective cooling, because it pulls heated
air away faster, and because it helps sweating be more effective by
evaporating it faster. Even a moderate wind speed can cool perceived
temperatures 5C (9F) compared to still air. This is how fans make
people feel cooler even though they do not change the temperature of the
air.
Thermal Mass:

Thermal mass can have an impact on natural ventilation.

Thermal mass is able to be used to help maintain a consistent
temperature and avoid big jumps.

Wind ventilation:
Wind ventilation is a kind of passive ventilation that uses the force of the
wind to pull air through the building.
Wind ventilation is the easiest, most common, and often least expensive
form of passive cooling and ventilation. Successful wind ventilation is
determined by having high thermal comfort and adequate fresh air for the
ventilated spaces, while having little or no energy use for active HVAC
cooling and ventilation.
Strategies for wind ventilation include operable windows, ventilation
louvers, and rooftop vents, as well as structures to aim or funnel breezes.
Windows are the most common tool. Advanced systems can have
automated windows or louvers actuated by thermostats.
If air moves through openings that are intentional as a result of wind
ventilation, then the building has natural ventilation. If air moves through
openings that are not intentional as a result of wind ventilation, then the
building has infiltration, or unwanted ventilation (air leaking in).
Strategies for wind ventilation:
The keys to good wind ventilation design are the building orientation and
massing, as well as sizing and placing openings appropriately for the
climate. In order to maximize wind ventilation, youll want the pressure
difference between the windward (inlet) and leeward (outlet) to be
maximized. In almost all cases, high pressures occur on the windward side
of a building and low pressures occur on the leeward side.
The local climate may have strong prevailing winds in a certain direction,
or light variable breezes, or may have very different wind conditions at
different times. Often a great deal of adjustability by occupants is
required. Consult climate data for wind rose diagrams.
The local climate may also have very hot times of the day or year, while
other times are quite cold (particularly desert regions). In summer, wind
is usually used to supply as much fresh air as possible while in winter,

wind ventilation is normally reduced to levels sufficient only to remove

excess moisture and pollutants.
Site, Massing, and Orientation for Wind Ventilation:
Massing and orientation are important because building height and depth
play a huge role in the structure's ability to effectively pull outside air
through occupied spaces. The massing and orientation pages discuss how
to optimize them for passive ventilation. In a nutshell, upper floors and
roofs are exposed to more wind than lower floors, and buildings with thin
profiles facing into the path of prevailing winds are easiest to ventilate.
Atria and open-plan spaces also help wind ventilation be more effective.
Cross Ventilation:
When placing ventilation openings, you
are placing inlets and outlets to
optimize the path air follows through
the building. Windows or vents placed
on opposite sides of the building give
natural breezes a pathway through the
structure. This is called crossventilation. Cross-ventilation is
generally the most effective form of wind ventilation.
It is generally best not to place openings exactly across from each other in
a space. While this does give effective ventilation, it can cause some
parts of the room to be well-cooled and ventilated while other parts are
not. Placing openings across from, but not directly opposite, each other
causes the room's air to mix, better distributing the cooling and fresh air.
Also, you can increase cross ventilation by having larger openings on the
leeward faces of the building that the windward faces and placing inlets at
higher pressure zones and outlets at lower pressure zones.
Placing inlets low in the room and outlets high in the room can cool spaces
more effectively, because they leverage the natural convection of air.
Cooler air sinks lower, while hot air rises; therefore, locating the opening
down low helps push cooler air through the space, while locating the
exhaust up high helps pull warmer air out of the space. This strategy is
covered more on the stack ventilation page.

Steering Breezes:
Not all parts of buildings can be
oriented for cross-ventilation. But wind
can be steered by architectural
features, such as casement windows,
wing walls, fences, or even
strategically-planted vegetation.
Architectural features can scoop air
into a room. Such structures facing
opposite directions on opposite walls can heighten this effect. These
features can range from casement windows or baffles to large-scale
structures such as fences, walls, or hedgerows.

Wing Walls:
Wing walls project outward next to a window,
so that even a slight breeze against the wall
creates a high pressure zone on one side and
low on the other. The pressure differential
draws outdoor air in through one open
window and out the adjacent one. Wing walls
are especially effective on sites with low
outdoor air velocity and variable wind directions.
Stack Ventilation and Bernoulli's Principle:
Stack ventilation and Bernoulli's principle are two kinds of passive
ventilation that use air pressure differences due to height to pull air
through the building. Lower pressures higher in the building help pull air
upward. The difference between stack ventilation and Bernoulli's principle
is where the pressure difference comes from.
Stack ventilation uses temperature differences to move air. Hot air rises
because it is lower pressure. For this reason, it is sometimes called
buoyancy ventilation.
Bernoulli's principle uses wind speed differences to move air. It is a
general principle of fluid dynamics, saying that the faster air moves, the
lower its pressure. Architecturally speaking, outdoor air farther from the
ground is less obstructed, so it moves faster than lower air, and thus has
lower pressure. This lower pressure can help suck fresh air through the
building. A building's surroundings can greatly affect this strategy, by
causing more or less obstruction.
The advantage of Bernoullis principle over the stack effect is that it
multiplies the effectiveness of wind ventilation. The advantage of stack
ventilation over Bernoulli's principle is that it does not need wind: it works

just as well on still, breezeless days when it may be most needed. In many
cases, designing for one effectively designs for both, but some strategies
can be employed to emphasize one or the other. For instance, a simple
chimney optimizes for the stack effect, while wind scoops optimize for
Bernoullis principle.
For example, the specially-designed wind cowls in the Bed ZED
development use the faster winds above rooftops for passive ventilation.
They have both intake and outlet, so that fast rooftop winds get scooped
into the buildings, and the larger outlets create lower pressures to
naturally suck air out. The stack effect also helps pull air out through the
same exhaust vent.
After wind ventilation, stack ventilation is the most commonly used form
of passive ventilation. It and Bernoulli's principle can be extremely
effective and inexpensive to implement. Typically, at night, wind speeds
are slower, so ventilation strategies driven by wind is less effective.
Therefore, stack ventilation is an important strategy.
Successful passive ventilation using these strategies is measured by
having high thermal comfort and adequate fresh air for the ventilated
spaces, while having little or no energy use for active HVAC cooling and
ventilation.
Strategies for Stack Ventilation and Bernoullis Principle:
Designing for stack ventilation and Bernoulli's principle are similar, and a
structure built for one will generally have both phenomena at work. In
both strategies, cool air is sucked in through low inlet openings and hotter
exhaust air escapes through high outlet openings. The ventilation rate is
proportional to the area of the openings. Placing openings at the bottom
and top of an open space will encourage natural ventilation through stack
effect. The warm air will exhaust through the top openings, resulting in
cooler air being pulled into the building from the outside through the
openings at the bottom. Openings at the top and bottom should be
roughly the same size to encourage even air flow through the vertical
space.
To design for these effects, the most important consideration is to have a
large difference in height between air inlets and outlets. The bigger the
difference, the better.
Towers and chimneys can be useful to carry air up and out, or skylights or
clerestories in more modest buildings. For these strategies to work, air
must be able to flow between levels. Multi-story buildings should have
vertical atria or shafts connecting the airflows of different floors.
Solar radiation can be used to enhance stack ventilation in tall open
spaces. By allowing solar radiation into the space (by using equator facing
glazing for example), you can heat up the interior surfaces and increase

the temperature that will accelerate stack ventilation between the top and
bottom openings.
Installing weatherproof vents to passively ventilate attic spaces in hot
climates is an important design strategy that is often overlooked. In
addition to simply preventing overheating1, ventilated attics can use
these principles to actually help cool a building. There are several styles
of passive roof vents: Open stack, turbine, gable, and ridge vents, to
name a few.
To allow adjustability in the amount of cooling and fresh air provided by
stack ventilation and Bernoulli systems, the inlet openings should be
adjustable with operable windows or ventilation louvers. Such systems
can be mechanized and controlled by thermostats to optimize
performance.
Stack ventilation and the Bernoulli Effect can be combined with crossventilation as well. This matrix shows how multiple different horizontal
and vertical air pathways can be combined.
Solar Chimneys A solar chimney uses the sun's heat to provide cooling,
using the stack effect. Solar heat gain warms a column of air, which then
rises, pulling new outside air through the building. They are also called
thermal chimneys, thermosiphons, or thermosiphons.
The simplest solar chimney is merely a chimney painted black. Many
outhouses in parks use such chimneys to provide passive ventilation.
Solar chimneys need their exhaust higher than roof level, and need
generous sun exposure. They are generally most effective for climates
with a lot of sun and little wind; climates with more wind on hot days can
usually get more ventilation using the wind itself.
Advanced solar chimneys can involve Trombe walls or other means of
absorbing and storing heat in the chimney to maximize the sun's effect,
and keep it working after sunset. Unlike a Trombe wall, solar chimneys are
generally best when insulated from occupied spaces, so they do not
transfer the sun's heat to those spaces but only provide cooling.
Herma chimneys can also be combined with means of cooling the
incoming air, such as evaporative cooling or geothermal cooling.
Solar chimneys can also be used for heating, much like a Trombe wall is.
If the top exterior vents are closed, the heated air is not exhausted out the
top; at the same time, if high interior vents are opened to let the heated
air into occupied spaces, it will provide convective air heating.
This works even on cold and relatively cloudy days. It can be useful for
locations with hot summers and cold winters, switching between cooling
and heating by adjusting which vents are open and closed.
Night-Purge Ventilation:

Night-Purge ventilation keeps windows and other passive ventilation

openings closed during the day but open at night to flush warm air
out of the building and cooling thermal mass for the next day.
Successful night-purge ventilation is determined by how much heat
energy is removed from a building by bringing in night-time air,
without using active HVAC cooling and ventilation.

Air Cooling:
Passively cooling incoming air before it is drawn into the building can be
achieved by evaporative cooling and/or geothermal cooling.
[Evaporative Cooling]:
If the inlet air is taken from the side of the building facing away from the
sun, and is drawn over a cooling pond or spray of mist or through large
areas of vegetation, it can end up several degrees cooler than outside air
temperature by the time it enters occupied spaces.
[Geothermal Cooling]:
Inlet air can also be cooled by drawing it through underground pipes or
through an underground plenum (air space). The air loses some of its heat
to the surfaces over which it passes. Underground, these surfaces tend to
be at roughly the annual average temperature, providing cooling in
summer and warming in winter. This strategy is best for dry climates, as
moisture in dark cool places can lead to poor indoor air quality.
Many early versions of geothermal cooling used rock stores or gravel beds
for their thermal storage capacity; however, the additional resistance to
air flow was quite high, often requiring a powered fan or pump. Large
open plenums can provide almost as much cooling or warming with only
minimal obstruction.
Apertures for Cooling:
The simple act of opening a window can often provide immediate cooling
effects. But how do the size and placement of that window impact the
effect you feel? Window design and ventilation louver design greatly
affects passive cooling potential, specifically natural ventilation. Be sure to
visit the wind, stack, and night-purge ventilation pages to learn more
about more specific opening strategies.
[Opening Shape]:
Opening shape matters and can influence airflow effectiveness. Long
horizontal strip windows can ventilate a space more evenly. Tall windows
with openings at top and bottom can use convection as well as outside
breezes to pull hot air out the top of the room while supplying cool air at
the bottom.
[Opening Size]:

Window or louver size can affect both the amount of air and its speed. For
an adequate amount of air, one rule of thumb states that the area of
operable windows or louvers should be 20% or more of the floor area, with
the area of inlet openings roughly matching the area of outlets.
However, to increase cooling effectiveness, a smaller inlet can be paired
with a larger outlet opening. With this configuration, inlet air can have a
higher velocity. Because the same amount of air must pass through both
the bigger and smaller openings in the same period of time, it must pass
through the smaller opening more quickly1.
Note that a small air inlet and large outlet does not increase the amount
of fresh air per minute any more than large openings on both sides would;
it only increases the incoming air velocity. Basic physics says that air
cannot be created or destroyed as it moves through the building, so in
order for the same amount of air to pass through a smaller opening, it
must be moving faster.
Air flows from areas of high pressure to low pressure. Air can be steered
by producing localized areas of high or low pressure. Anything that
changes the air's path will impede its flow, causing slightly higher air
pressure on the windward side of the building and a negative pressure on
the leeward side. To equalize this pressure, outside air will enter any
windward openings and be drawn out of leeward openings.
Because of pressure differences at different altitudes, this impedance to
airflow is significantly higher if the air is forced to move upward or
downward to navigate a barrier without any corresponding increase or
decrease in temperature.
[Opening Types]:
Windows that only open halfway, such as double-hung and sliding
windows, are only half as effective for ventilation as they are for daylight.
Some casement windows and Jalousie windows, however, can open so
wide that effectively their entire area is useful for ventilation.
Casement windows can deflect breezes, or can act as a scoop to bring
them in, depending on wind direction. Jalousie windows (horizontal
louvered glazing) can catch breezes while keeping out rain.
You can also use ventilation louvers instead of windows for your openings.
Their coefficients of effectiveness will be the same as windows of the
same geometry, such as Jalousie windows. Ventilation louvers often open
so wide that nearly all their area is useful for ventilation. They are
typically oriented horizontally to prevent rain from entering; this is an
advantage over most windows. Ventilation louvers also provide visual
privacy, and can even provide acoustic damping.