 Building Science at UC Berkeley: Research
Edward Arens, Department of Architecture & Director, CEDR University of California Energy Institute "Alternative cooling" of buildings reduces or eliminates the need for energy-intensive mechanical cooling, using good envelope design and mechanisms to remove heat by ventilation and evaporation. Such buildings require only a fraction of the electricity used by air-conditioned building, and can significantly reduce the peak demands on utilities. Alternative cooling is well-suited to many regions of California in which the cooling seasons are comparatively short. However, its design is difficult. It should not be designed using a single peak design day as for air-conditioning, but using a peak period of several days with hourly temperature, wind, and solar patterns reflecting their true probabilities for the building’s location. Such design climate information is currently not available. It is therefore difficult to design optimal alternative cooling systems for cost or comfort, or to provide guidance on where they are applicable. This project proposes to develop statistically valid design sequences for California through analysis of detailed long-term climatic data, followed by correlations to more readily available weather summaries. The outcome of the project will be (1) a method for designing design sequences, (2) a table or atlas of design sequences for California, and (3) an assessment using the design sequences in computer simulation of the effectiveness of alternative cooling by ventilation and evaporative cooling in California locations.
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