Natural Ventilation in Urban Areas
15 June 2009 | Green News | 1 Comment
Traditional architecture shows how people carefully designed passive cooling systems that did not make use of any mechanical energy to operate(ground cooling, wind towers, fountains and whitewash). A major change occured at the turn of the twentieth century, when W.H. Carrier invented the refrigeration chiller, which was developed on a large scale after Second World War.Air-conditioning technology and the aviability of cheap energy allowed architects and engineers to keep buildings at a confortable temperature whatever their orientation, insulation level, shading and thermal mass.Thus, in many parts of the world, passive cooling design and techniques were abandoned until they gained renewed interest in the last couple of decades encouraged by energy and environment concerns.
In recent years , European scientists, engineers and architects designed successful innovative buildings that use passive cooling techniques, such as natural ventilation.The role of the ventilation in buildings is to maintain acceptable levels of oxygen in air and to remove adours, moisture and internal pollutants.It may also remove excess heat by direct cooling or by using the building’s thermal mass.
Tags: building's thermal mass, cheap energy, energy and environment concerns, environmental-friendly, innovative buildings, keep buildings at a confortable temperature, passive cooling design, passive cooling systems, passive cooling techniques, solar cooking, wind towers
I’m glad they mentioned the geothermal loop. It can actually reduce the heating and cooling energy use by up to half.