‘For all those who have been unlucky enough to have roasted in ill-designed buildings, for all those who work for this not to happen, and for many more this is important and useful reading.’
ALEXANDROS N. TOMBAZIS, Architect, Greece

‘The air-conditioning industry has sold comfort as a commodity. This book not only challenges their concept of comfort but examines the ways and means that we can produce comfortable environments at minimal energy cost and hence fight global warming.’
PROFESSOR MICHAEL WILSON, Director of the Low Energy Architecture Research Unit, London Metropolitan University, UK

‘This book goes back to the basic physics of human comfort and explains why many answers can be found in today’s best building technologies, before relying on energy dependent devices and gadgets.’
EDUARDO DE OLIVEIRA FERNANDES, Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal

Following a rapid increase in the use of air conditioning in buildings of all types, the energy demand for powering such devices has become a significant cause for concern. Passive cooling is increasingly being thought of as the best alternative to air conditioning.

This book offers the latest knowledge and techniques on passive cooling, enabling building professionals to understand the state of the art and employ relevant new strategies. With separate chapters on comfort, urban microclimate, solar control, ventilation, ground cooling and evaporative and radiative cooling, this authoritative text will also be invaluable for architects, engineers and students working on building physics and low-energy design.

Advances in Passive Cooling is part of the BEST series, edited by Mat Santamouris. The aim of the series is to present the most current, high quality theoretical and application oriented material in the field of solar energy and energy efficient buildings. Leading international experts cover the strategies and technologies that form the basis of high-performance, sustainable buildings, crucial to enhancing our built and urban environment.

About the author(s)

Mat Santamouris is Associate Professor at the University of Athens, Greece. Contributing authors include: Fergus Nicol, Susan Roaf, Hashem Akbari, Karsten Voss, Tilmann E. Kuhn, Peter Nitz, Sebastian Herkel, Maria Wall, Bengt Hellström, Maria Kolokotroni, Jens Pfafferott, Simone Walker-Hertkorn, Burkhard Sanner and Evyatar Erell.

Contents

Progress on Passive Cooling: Adaptive Thermal Comfort and Passive Architecture * Opportunities for Saving Energy and Improving Air Quality in Urban Heat Islands * Solar Control * Ventilation for Cooling * Ground Cooling: Recent Progress * Evaporative Cooling * Radiative Cooling * Index