Energy efficient cooling through natural ventilation in Kosovo

Abstract

The buildings consume nearly 55% of global electricity. As people are forced to spend more time indoors after pandemic COVID 19, energy efficient, well ventilated, adequate indoor air quality became critical for their health. The household energy consumption is mostly for heating but also for cooling in Kosovo. Aiming to improve energy efficiency, a passive cooling strategy can be applied by using a natural ventilation as the most essential method. However, that requires an analysis of different factors such as positions and the sizes of the openings within one area, the specific period used for ventilation, and the external temperatures and conditions. In this work, the computer application Optivent 2 was used to analyze a generic airflow strategy and evaluate the decisions regarding the feasibility of cooling with natural ventilation for a single house in Kosovo during the warmest month of the year (i.e. August). The results prove that the natural ventilation during the day at the houses, which the areas have only one-sided openings, is effective only for fresh air flow but not sufficient for cooling purposes. When the openings are designed on the opposite walls of the rooms or areas, the conditions will enable that through cross ventilation, the area will be cooled at the same time, by achieving up to 90% of the accessibility limits of comfort, both during the day and nights, at different scenarios on the warmest summer months in Kosovo. These findings will help the architects of Kosovo to identify the proper and most effective passive designs strategy, when it comes to buildings cooling during the summer, in order to achieve the maximal benefit of their designs and the operation of their designed building.