Using Passive Strategies to prevent overheating and promote resilient buildings

Overheating is becoming a problem in buildings in the city centre. This situation is further exacerbated by the Urban Heat Island phenomena and by climate change. High levels of urbanisation and design decisions that compromise the use of passive technologies e.g. opening windows, have resulted in more active systems being used for cooling. This has often led to an increase of energy consumption and compromising the need to achieve nearly zero carbon buildings in the near future. This paper assesses the likelihood of a model dwelling in London overheating in line with climatic predictions for the year 2030, 2050 and 2080. The criteria to assess overheating are based on the Technical Memorandum 52 from CIBSE. A range of passive solutions e.g. natural ventilation, shading and orientation are assessed and discussed in a move towards sustainable buildings that are resilient to global warming.

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