In France, air conditioning of offices is often required especially in areas with high noise levels and in the Mediterranean climates. Evaporative cooling systems appear able to give a cost effective solution to the growing demand for summer comfort: hence, the CSTB and Gaz de France are currently conducting a joint research on the efficiency of such systems. On the basis of a comfort criteria, this have been done by computer simulations taking into account different kinds of systems, buildings, and climatic areas.

This paper deals with the thermal performance of an earth to air heat exchanger for cooling and heating purposes. The cooling system consists of an earth tube buried in the ground through which ambient air is propelled and cooled by the bulk temperature of the natural ground. Fresh or indoor air can be circulated inside the tube. A new, more accurate, transient, implicit, numerical model based on the coupled and simultaneous transfer of heat and mass into the soil and the pipe has been developed.

The Weidmuller hq at West Malling, built in 1994, uses the Swedish passive cooling system Termodeck. We examine the results of in-use system performance tests.

A new, integrated method to calculate the energy contribution of night ventilation techniques to the cooling load of a building is presented in this paper. The method is based on the principle of "Balance Point Temperature" and permits the calculation of the energy required to cool a building to acceptable comfort conditions when night ventilation techniques are used. It also permits the calculation of the energy contribution of night ventilated buildings compared to conventional air conditioned buildings.

During recent years, energy consumption of buildings for cooling purposes has significantly increased. In order to reduce the energy consumption while maintaining high levels of thermal comfort, building research has been oriented towards the appropriate use of the natural heat sinks. The present paper provides comparative information regarding the performance of the more important passive and hybrid cooling techniques involving the use of a natural heat sink.