This paper surveys the state of integration of passive cooling devices in buildings. This survey illustrates the fact that there are no general prescriptions for the integration in the design of passive cooling devices. Further the present paper does not intend to propose general prescriptions for the integration of cooling devices in design but only to illustrate a number of existing problems.
The need for auxiliary heating and cooling systems in European buildings is established on the basis of building physics and climatic conditions, emphasizing that cooling systems may not be needed in most regions if there are no large internal gains and the building envelope is well designed, through the use of bioclimatic design principles. Occupant attitudes and the consequences upon indoor environmental quality are also compared for the cases of actively and naturally controlled buildings.
The paper is structured in four sections. The introduction sets the notion of solar control as a fundamental issue in deciding the priorities of climate-responsive design for different building types and locations in Europe. The second section presents an overview of application contexts and means of solar control, and discusses design priorities and threshold conditions for different space functions and environmental design requirements.
This paper summarizes recent developments in natural and passive cooling in buildings and the main results from the European research project P ASCOOL. The project was completed at the end of 1995, after 2i'months of theoretical and experimental work resulting in a better understanding of passive cooling techniques and the development of tools and design guidelines. The project was a collaboration of 29 European universities and research organizations from 12 countries.
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