On the use of sunspace for space heating/cooling in Europe

The heating/cooling potential of a typical sunspace has been investigated in the present study as a function of different climatic conditions in several locations throughout Europe. Passive solar design is mainly concentrated on providing space heating during winter as well as on avoiding overheating during the summer period. In the present paper the feasibility of a sunspace as a heating system was studied taking into account the climatic conditions. Simultaneously, various passive cooling techniques are proposed and examined in order to avoid overheating during summer. For this reason, a representative case study is presented and simulated for several climatic conditions. The simulated results showed that sunspaces can be an appropriate and effective system all over Europe during the cold period of the year. Thermal mass within buildings, shading devices, buried pipes and night ventilation techniques can be essential and effective methods to control overheating during summer. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.