Potential effect of mechanical ventilative cooling on the climate resilience of the Italian residential building stock

According to the 5th and 6th Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there has been a continuous increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere since 2011. Buildings, responsible for 32% of global energy consumption, contribute not only to climate change but are also influenced by its effects, including increased risk of overheating and cooling demands. Consequently, there is a need to evaluate and implement resilient solutions to address cooling and overheating issues. This paper investigates the energy efficiency and climate resilience of mechanical ventilative cooling in the Italian residential building sector under future climate conditions. Both existing buildings (without insulation and with conventional heating/cooling systems) and retrofitted buildings (with insulation and heat pumps for heating and cooling) were analysed. The findings indicate that due to climate change, buildings will require more energy for cooling. The use of mechanical ventilative cooling can, at best, reduce annual energy needs for space cooling and related electrical energy consumption up to 20% by 2050 in pre-retrofitted buildings. Besides, this change will have a considerable impact on post-retrofit buildings (up to 55% by 2050). In the case of a free-floating condition, findings demonstrate the cooling strategy's adaptability to the negative impacts of insulation in retrofitted buildings (decreases of up to 92% in the 2090s). These results shed new light on the trade-off between climate resilience and energy efficiency.