Natural ventilation in warm climates: The challenges of thermal comfort, heatwave resilience and indoor air quality

In buildings, energy is primarily consumed by mechanical air conditioning systems. Low energy alternatives, such as natural ventilation, are needed. However, they need to be able to cope with increasing heatwaves and pollution, particularly in warm climates. This review paper looked at the ability of natural ventilation to provide adequate thermal comfort, resilience against heatwaves, and good Indoor Air Quality in warm climates. Single sided ventilation demonstrates the poorest ability to provide thermal comfort, while cross ventilation highlights better performance in terms of reducing indoor air temperatures compared to outdoor. However, windcatchers and solar chimneys displayed even better performance by producing relatively high ventilation rates. During heatwaves and future climatic scenarios, natural ventilation, by cross-ventilation, was not able to meet internal thermal comfort standards. A potential low energy solution could be combining solar chimneys or windcatchers with water evaporation cooling. A critical synthesis of the literature suggests that these systems can generate high ventilation rates and keep indoor temperatures around 8 degrees C cooler than outdoor temperatures in warm weather (>35 degrees C). However, no studies were found testing these systems against future climate scenarios, and further studies are recommended. The literature supported natural ventilation being effective in removing pollution generated indoors due to adequate ventilation rates. However, using unfiltered natural ventilation for areas with high outdoor pollution can increase the indoor deposition of harmful particulate matter. With increasing air pollution, further studies are urgently required to investigate filter enabled natural ventilation, particularly with solar chimney/windcatcher incorporated.

Automated summary

This review paper examined the ability of natural ventilation to provide thermal comfort, resilience against heatwaves, and good indoor air quality in warm climates. While single sided ventilation showed the poorest thermal comfort performance, cross ventilation performed better in reducing indoor air temperatures. Windcatchers and solar chimneys displayed even better performance with relatively high ventilation rates.