Passive cooling is being employed as a low-energy consuming technique to remove undesirable interior heat from a building in the hot seasons. There are numerous ways to promote this cooling technique, and in the present study the use of solar chimney (SC) together with earth to air heat...

This paper introduces designs, technologies, and best practices aimed at reducing the cooling energy demand in buildings. It covers the basic principles of why occupants need cooling to meet thermal comfort requirements and how heat is transferred into buildings from the outdoor environment....

Roof integrated solar chimneys use solar radiation to heat air and induce natural ventilation through a house. They can improve the performance of roof integrated photovoltaic arrays by removing heat absorbed by the panels, and enhance buoyant free cooling at night. This paper studies an...

The paper investigates the potential of a courtyard for passive cooling in a single storey high mass building in a warm humid climate. The inclusion of an internal courtyard in building design is attributed to the optimization of natural ventilation in order to minimize indoor overheating...

We calculated the influence of thermal mass and night ventilation on the maximum indoor temperature in summer. The results for different locations in the hot humid climate of Israel are presented and analyzed. The maximum indoor temperature depends linearly on the temperature difference between...

A detailed and integrated presentation of the green roof systems is provided in the present paper. Aiming to analyse a specific urban case study, we describe the basic architectural and scientific principles that characterize its performance and efficiency. Furthermore, a state of the art...

In this study an attempt is made to investigate the impact of the urban heat island (UHI) effect on the energy consumption of a building using both, an accurate, extensively validated, transient simulation model and a neural network one. The energy consumption is calculated for a typical...

Despite significant impacts of natural ventilation on atria, indoor thermal conditions and decreasing energy usage load, there is lack of knowledge about how various design parameters influence atria thermal conditions. The complexity of natural ventilation design of atria and inadequate...

Concentrating photovoltaic technology is one of the fastest growing solar energy technologies achieving electrical conversion efficiency in excess of 43%. The operating temperature of a solar cell strongly influences the performance of a photovoltaic system reducing its efficiency with a...

The present paper aims to fully summarize the current scientific and technological experience focusing on the comparative characteristics of roof pond variants. The design guidelines and pond characteristics provide the opportunity to make the proper decision of a roof pond variant for cooling...