Potential for passive cooling of buildings by night-time ventilation in present and future climates in Europe

Given the general shift in recent decades towards a lower heating and higher cooling demand for buildings in many European countries, passive cooling by night-time ventilation has come to be seen as a promising option, particularly in the moderate or cold climates of Central, Eastern and Northern Europe. The basic concept involves cooling the building structure overnight in order to provide a heat sink that is available during the occupancy period. In this study, the potential for the passive cooling of buildings by night-time ventilation is evaluated by analysing climatic data, irrespective of any building-specific parameters. An approach for calculating degree-hours based on a variable building temperature - within a standardized range of thermal comfort - is presented and applied to climatic data from 259 stations throughout Europe. The results show a very high potential for night-time ventilative cooling over the whole of Northern Europe and a still significant potential in Central, Eastern and even some regions of Southern Europe. However, given the inherent stochastic properties of weather patterns, series of warmer nights can occur at some locations, where passive cooling by night-time ventilation alone might not suffice to guarantee thermal comfort. It should also be remembered that climatic cooling potential is likely to have fallen appreciably by the end of the 21^{st century due to climate warming.}