Design of indoor climate control passive systems in buildings: experiences for a PhD course

In the last decadesb the amount of energy consumed for space cooling and ventilation has raised significantly. Furthermoreb cooling energy needs are expected to become one of the major consumption voices in the building sector. The aircconditioning market is growing faster and faster both in industrialized and developing countriesb and even if the EER of these systems are higher than in the pastb the total energy consumption is rising. For this reasonb and in accordance to the requirements of the EU towards NZEB and the diffusion of renewable energy sourcesb the development of lowcenergy alternative for space cooling is an important issue for the research sector. The paper will focus on the effect of passive cooling systems in reducing the cooling energy demand of buildings assuring users’ comfort conditions. The paper will report the results of a Ph.D. course on “DESIGN OF INDOOR CLIMATEcCONTROL PASSIVE SYSTEMS IN BUILDINGS”b that will be held at Politecnico di Torino in February 2018. Different passive cooling ventilative techniques will be analyzed comparing different methods of calculations ranging from very earlycdesign phases (building programming)b using simple ventilative cooling potential toolsb to advanced design phasesb using dynamic energy simulations. The effect of different design choices on the expected reduction in cooling energy needs will also be considered.