Evaluation of cooling potential of passive strategies using bioclimatic approach for different Indian climatic zones

Abstract

Effective utilization of different passive strategies in buildings is gaining attention with a growing interest in energy saving and environment protection as it primarily depends on climatic conditions. Thus, in order to propose a suitable passive strategy in a building for given climatic condition, the development of a bioclimatic analysis tool is necessary to establish its potential study. In the present work, an analysis tool for the evaluation of the cooling potential of passive strategies for different Indian climatic zones is developed. A total of 18 cities representing four different climatic zones, namely hot-dry, hot-humid, temperate, cold and composite are selected for analysis. A comfort zone for each city is represented in the bioclimatic chart based on a recently developed India Model for Adaptive Comfort (IMAC). Passive cooling strategies are defined in the bioclimatic chart by extending the boundaries of the comfort zone. Climate analysis is carried out in terms of monthly averaged hourly measured climatic data points on the bioclimatic chart. Yearly, seasonal and monthly cooling potential of passive strategies like natural ventilation, thermal mass, thermal mass with night ventilation and direct evaporative cooling are evaluated using the bioclimatic analysis tool. Results show that comfort improvements are highest for natural ventilation with cooling potential in the range of 26.38–71.18% for all climatic zones of India. Thermal mass with night ventilation also shows good cooling potential for the composite climatic environment. Direct evaporative cooling is the more effective passive strategy for hot and dry climatic zone.