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Natural ventilation in warm climates: The challenges of thermal comfort, heatwave resilience and indoor air quality

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  • Ahmed, Tariq
  • Kumar, Prashant
  • Mottet, Laetitia

Abstract

In buildings, energy is primarily consumed by mechanical air conditioning systems. Low energy alternatives, such as natural ventilation, are needed. However, they need to be able to cope with increasing heatwaves and pollution, particularly in warm climates. This review paper looked at the ability of natural ventilation to provide adequate thermal comfort, resilience against heatwaves, and good Indoor Air Quality in warm climates. Single-sided ventilation demonstrates the poorest ability to provide thermal comfort, while cross ventilation highlights better performance in terms of reducing indoor air temperatures compared to outdoor. However, windcatchers and solar chimneys displayed even better performance by producing relatively high ventilation rates. During heatwaves and future climatic scenarios, natural ventilation, by cross-ventilation, was not able to meet internal thermal comfort standards. A potential low energy solution could be combining solar chimneys or windcatchers with water evaporation cooling. A critical synthesis of the literature suggests that these systems can generate high ventilation rates and keep indoor temperatures around 8 °C cooler than outdoor temperatures in warm weather (>35 °C). However, no studies were found testing these systems against future climate scenarios, and further studies are recommended. The literature supported natural ventilation being effective in removing pollution generated indoors due to adequate ventilation rates. However, using unfiltered natural ventilation for areas with high outdoor pollution can increase the indoor deposition of harmful particulate matter. With increasing air pollution, further studies are urgently required to investigate filter enabled natural ventilation, particularly with solar chimney/windcatcher incorporated.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmed, Tariq & Kumar, Prashant & Mottet, Laetitia, 2021. "Natural ventilation in warm climates: The challenges of thermal comfort, heatwave resilience and indoor air quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:138:y:2021:i:c:s1364032120309539
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2020.110669
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    4. Andrés Soto & Pedro Martínez & Victor M. Soto & Pedro J. Martínez, 2021. "Analysis of the Performance of a Passive Downdraught Evaporative Cooling System Driven by Solar Chimneys in a Residential Building by Using an Experimentally Validated TRNSYS Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, June.
    5. Su, Wei & Ai, Zhengtao & Liu, Jing & Yang, Bin & Wang, Faming, 2023. "Maintaining an acceptable indoor air quality of spaces by intentional natural ventilation or intermittent mechanical ventilation with minimum energy use," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    6. Afaq Hyder Chohan & Jihad Awad, 2022. "Wind Catchers: An Element of Passive Ventilation in Hot, Arid and Humid Regions, a Comparative Analysis of Their Design and Function," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-23, September.
    7. Mariangela De Vita & Francesco Duronio & Angelo De Vita & Pierluigi De Berardinis, 2022. "Adaptive Retrofit for Adaptive Reuse: Converting an Industrial Chimney into a Ventilation Duct to Improve Internal Comfort in a Historic Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-24, March.
    8. Qin, Yong & Xu, Zeshui & Wang, Xinxin & Škare, Marinko, 2022. "Green energy adoption and its determinants: A bibliometric analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    9. Pouranian, Fatemeh & Akbari, Habibollah & Hosseinalipour, S.M., 2021. "Performance assessment of solar chimney coupled with earth-to-air heat exchanger: A passive alternative for an indoor swimming pool ventilation in hot-arid climate," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    10. Lei, Shunbo & Pozo, David & Wang, Ming-Hao & Li, Qifeng & Li, Yupeng & Peng, Chaoyi, 2022. "Power economic dispatch against extreme weather conditions: The price of resilience," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Elaouzy, Youssef & El Fadar, Abdellah, 2023. "Sustainability of building-integrated bioclimatic design strategies depending on energy affordability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

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