Ventilative Cooling: Can Businesses Live Without Mechanical Cooling?

Rod Olsen and Reid Hart, Eugene Water and Electric Board
Michael Hatten and Galen Ohmart, SOLARC, Architecture & Engineering, Inc.
G. Z. Brown, University of Oregon Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratories

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Abstract

The application of ventilative cooling in the commercial sector has been promoted as a sustainable building practice. Four buildings with ventilative cooling have been completed recently in Eugene, Oregon. They include a bicycle manufacturing facility, a food bank, a childcare center, and a business school building. Two of them were occupied during one of the warmer summers on record. In a time when there is an increasing expectation of full airconditioning, what is the reaction of occupants and business owners to ventilative cooling?

The general design approach, predicted savings, actual energy use, and occupant reactions are all reviewed. Authors found that the design effort went beyond attention to daylighting, equipment loads, thermal mass, and effective ventilation methods. It was important for the design team to carefully verify and document owner expectations and communicate how the performance of the building may be different than mainstream expectations and professional standards. The studies found that businesses can live without mechanical cooling, but ventilative cooling requires occupants to operate the building in harmony with the diurnal cycle and to schedule work and building occupancy to avoid summer weather extremes.