ISSN 2278-1447 Volume – 3, Issue – 1 International Journal of Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (IJMSE), March 2014

A Review on Passive Cooling Practices in

Residential Buildings
A. Ramesh Kumar1, KCK. Vijyakumar2, PSS. Sinivasan3
1
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Erode Builder Educational Trust‟s Group
of Institutions, Kangaym-638 108, e-mail: endrumramesh@yahoo.com
2
Professor and Principal, Vivekanandha Institute of Engineering and Technology,
Tiruchengode-637205, e-mail: vijikck@yahoo.com
3
Professor and Principal, Knowledge Institute of Technology,
Salem-637 504, e-mail: pssmech@yahoo.com
Abstract - This review focused on passive cooling techniques Planting trees, vegetation, water around the buildings, open
through literature study that can be incorporated on residential courtyards and white painted exteriors vary the hot burning
buildings to make them comfort and cuts electricity expenses. Hot micro-climate. Passive design allows buildings to adapt more
arid country like India consumes enormous amount of electricity
appropriately to their local climates and take better advantage of
to maintain comfortness inside the residential buildings. To meet
natural energy resources, such as wind and thermal buoyancy, to
out the cooling load the energy requisite growing year by year
help condition their interior environments. Furthermore, passive,
radically. In particular during summer the need of electricity is
more to provide the cooling load for air conditioners, air coolers
naturally ventilated buildings have potential to provide more
and fans to maintain the temperature in comfort level. pleasant and healthier environments for the occupants compared
Throughout the world research on passive cooling is carried out to their mechanically ventilated counterparts. A well-designed
by many researchers and various techniques are adopted to naturally ventilated building can use just a third of the energy
reduce the temperature inside the room. Each and every degree consumed by an air- conditioned building, while seemingly
temperature drop inside the room with the assist of passive cooling giving an equivalent level of comfort.
technique will considerably reduce the energy consumption by the
Comprehensively, buildings are answerable for acquire 40%
cooling appliances. A review on various practices proposed and
of the whole world's yearly energy utilization. The greater part
experiential by the researchers has been done in this paper.
of this energy is for the procurement of lighting, warming,
Benefits and drawbacks of the techniques are discussed.
Additional work is needed in the area of material science that can
cooling and ventilating. The expanding level of harm to the
be enhancing the efficiency of passive cooling techniques in future. earth has made more excellent mindfulness at the global level,
Keywords- Passive cooling, residential building, temperature drop, which brought about the idea of efficient power vitality building
material science in the infrastructural area. Increasing concerns about worldwide
temperature present the building engineering with a challenge to
I. INTRODUCTION cut its energy utilization. In countries such as the UK and the
The region with arid climate excessive heat is the major US, for example, the building sector consumes of order 40-50%
problem that causes human thermal discomfort. Cooling is the of the total delivered energy [2-3].
basic requirement of occupants of the buildings, in the smart The climate control systems, specifically ventilation, cooling
buildings it can be provided by electro-mechanical equipments and heating can account for as much as 70% of the total energy
like air conditioners. The traditional architecture in hot arid use [4]. On the other hand, this component of the energy
climate had various passive cooling methodologies which consumption can be reduced considerably by utilizing passive
supported the thermal comfort in residential buildings [1]. environmental solutions as an alternative of mechanical ones.

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 ISSN 2278-1447 Volume – 3, Issue – 1 International Journal of Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (IJMSE), March 2014

II. SOLAR PASSIVE TECHNIQUES Thermal Mass

Solar passive methods are followed by our ancient people to Thermal mass depends on the ability of materials in the
fight against the heat entering to the occupant‟s room. Lots of building to absorb heat during the day. Each night the mass
passive cooling practices are carried out to reduce the heat releases heat, making it ready to absorb heat again the next day.
penetration inside the building through roof. Passive cooling can To be effective, thermal mass must be exposed to the living
be defined as the removal/restriction of heat from/to the spaces. Residential buildings are considered to have average
environment of building by utilizing the natural processes of mass when the exposed mass area is equal to the floor area. So,
rejecting heat to the ambient atmosphere by convection, for every square foot of floor area there is one square foot of
evaporation, and radiation or to the adjacent earth by exposed thermal mass. A slab floor would be an easy way to
conduction and convection. accomplish this in a design. High mass buildings would have
up to three square feet of exposed mass for each square foot of
floor area. Large masonry fireplaces and interior brick walls are
two ways to incorporate high mass.

Evaporative Cooling
Evaporative cooling lowers the indoor air temperature by
evaporating water. In dry climates, this is commonly done
directly in the space. But indirect methods, such as roof ponds,
allow evaporative cooling to be used in more temperate
climates too. Ventilation and evaporative cooling are often
supplemented with mechanical means, such as fans. Even so,
they use substantially less energy to maintain comfort
compared to refrigeration systems. It is also possible to use
these strategies in completely passive systems that require no
additional machinery or energy to operate.

Natural Ventilation
Natural ventilation depends purely on air development to
cool occupants. Window openings on contrary sides of the
Fig 2.1. Classification of passive cooling methods building improve cross ventilation determined by breezes.
Since natural breezes can't be planned, architects regularly
Buildings can be designed and oriented in such a way that decide to upgrade common ventilation utilizing tall spaces
windows, doors, indoor spaces etc. are located and oriented to inside structures called stacks. With openings near the highest
take maximum advantage of the local climate. The role of point of the stack, warm air can escape, while cooler air enters
landscaping around the building e.g. trees, vegetation and water the building from openings next to the ground. Ventilation
ponds have also been used to maximum effect [5]. The major makes the building to be open throughout the day to permit
classifications of passive cooling are natural ventilation, wind stream.
thermal mass and evaporative cooling.

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Fig 3.2. Evapo-reflective roof

The inside air temperature can be reduced by 6 to 10°C, with
an optimum of 22 cm air gap, then the performance of the roof

Fig 2.2. Schematic diagram for various types of passive with cooling system was improved when night natural

cooling non-architectural techniques used on roofs ventilation was allowed through the test cell opened window
and door during night time, which decrease the inside air
III. EVAPO-REFLECTIVE ROOF temperature by 2 to 3°C [8].
Evapo-reflective roof used to improve space cooling in
buildings for hot arid. The analysis examined theoretically the IV. PASSIVE EVAPORATIVE COOLING WALL (PECW)
effectiveness of such roof cooling system in comparison to a A passive evaporative cooling wall (PECW) which was
bare roof. The results showed that cooling inside buildings can constructed of porous pipe-shaped ceramics with high water
be improved by the application of such cooling design [6,7]. It soaking-up ability. The air passing through the PECW unit was
was also seen that combining evapo-reflective roof with night cooled and its temperature could be reduced by around 20C
ventilation increase more significantly such cooling. during summer daytime.

Fig 3.1. Schematic diagram of Evapo-reflective roof

Fig 4.1. Passive Evaporative Cooling Wall

This cooling effect from the PECW unit can be quantified in
terms of the cooling efficiency. Experimental results showed
that an average value of the cooling efficiency was 0.17 for a

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 ISSN 2278-1447 Volume – 3, Issue – 1 International Journal of Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (IJMSE), March 2014

sunny daytime period in summer [9]. As limitations of this a solar reflector and a longwave transmitter, is likely to be the
cooling system, it is not suitable for the extreme humid climate source of the next trade-off to resolve [12].
and locations with a shortage of water for evaporation.
VI. WETTED GUNNY BAG COVERED ROOF
V. RADIANT BARRIERS The treated room had the entire roof covered with bags filled
Thin metal films, typically stapled to the underside of attic with sawdust in such a manner that it had uniform thickness
rafters, will reflect approx. 97% of long-wave infrared heat Sawdust is hygroscopic in nature. It controls the rate of
radiation. Ceiling insulation improves comfort and cuts vaporisation of water, which migrates to atmosphere due to
electricity costs [10]. It will enable occupants to feel cooler and vapour pressure differential [13]. Water was sprinkled on it in
reduce indoor air temperature by 40C in the afternoon. Also the morning. Since, saw dust has good retentivity for water
eliminates the “toaster” effect by lowering the ceiling there is no need for sprinkling the water again and again.
temperature by 180 C and reduces or eliminate the need for an
air conditioner. The insulation pays for itself in 1 to 2 years.

Fig 6.1 Types of Radiation Barriers

Fig 5.1. Evapo-reflective roof Due to evaporation of water, the temperature of water in the
bags is decreased. Also, direct radiation does not reach on the
roof as these are absorbed by the water in the bags. Bags used
act as a heat sink both for radiation and heat from the roof [14].
It has been observed that the average temperature of the
untreated room during the period of observation was 35°C, and
that the average temperature of the treated room was 30.6°C,
showing a difference of 4.4°C.

VII. OTHER PASSIVE COOLING METHODS

Fig 5.2. Types of Radiation Barriers Decrease use of heating appliances - oven, stove, toaster
(a) Cellulose Attic Insulation (b) Radiant Barrier oven, hairdryer, clothes dryer. Replace heat producing
(c) Foam board ceiling insulation (d) Attic Ventilators incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent lighting. Close
The simplest solution is to let longwave radiation pass curtains and windows during the day for any south-and west-
through the insulation by changing its structure [11]. It is facing window that lets in direct.
estimated that this roof would remain on average 4.5°C cooler Nighttime cooling - Open windows and doors to admit cool
than a standard roof over a year. The selection of an appropriate night air. Close them again as the sun rises. A well-insulated
material for the convection guard, which must also function as building will retain “cool” for many hours.
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 ISSN 2278-1447 Volume – 3, Issue – 1 International Journal of Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (IJMSE), March 2014

Interior window coverings - Miniblinds can reduce solar heat Air movement is the most important element of passive cooling,
gain by 40 to 50% – Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook it increases cooling by increasing evaporation rates. Elevated
Exterior window shades or awnings - Once the sun hits the structures can increase exposure to breezes. Moderate south
window, the heat gets in the house by conduction, even if there facing glass areas are required for cross ventilation and day
is a shade and a curtain on the inside of the window. lighting.
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