LOW-ENERGY COOLING TECHNOLOGIES— IEA ENERGY CONSERVATION IN BUILDINGS AND COMMUNITY SYSTEMS
The aim of IEA ECBCS Annex 28 was to investigate the feasibility and provide design tools/guidance on the application of alternative cooling strategies to buildings. Outputs from the Annex include a review of the technologies, early design guidance, detailed design tools, and case study descriptions. The scope was limited to the technologies included in the Annex. The information provided reflects the state of the technologies in a country or countries that participated in the Annex and should not be taken as representative of the situation on a world wide basis. Ten countries participated in the Annex. The technologies varied from night cooling through natural ventilation and slab cooling to desiccant cooling and aquifers. This paper presents some of the buildings that illustrated the various cooling technologies through demonstrated case studies. The case study buildings are located in countries with different climatic conditions. The temperatures and relative humidity of the outside air gives different prerequisites for the studied technologies. The suitability of a technical alternative is thus often dependent on the location of the building.