Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland

Silva, Ricardo; Eggimann, Sven; Fierz, Léonie; Fiorentini, Massimo; Orehounig, Kristina; Baldini, Luca

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-23565

Publication type:	Article in scientific journal
Type of review:	Peer review (publication)
Title:	Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland
Authors:	Silva, Ricardo Eggimann, Sven Fierz, Léonie Fiorentini, Massimo Orehounig, Kristina Baldini, Luca
et. al:	No
DOI:	10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574 10.21256/zhaw-23565
Published in:	Building and Environment
Volume(Issue):	208
Issue:	108574
Issue Date:	Nov-2021
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0360-1323 1873-684X
Language:	English
Subjects:	Night ventilation; Window shading; Space cooling demand; Climate adaptation; Building; Decarbonisation
Subject (DDC):	620: Engineering
Abstract:	Energy systems need to decarbonize rapidly whilst satisfying heating and cooling needs. In Switzerland, residential cooling has so far only a small impact on the national energy demand, but climate change and a larger uptake of cooling devices are expected to lead to future increases. This requires novel approaches for sustainable cooling solutions suitable for implementation at a national scale. Here, we explore the potential of night ventilation and window shading to reduce the buildings cooling demand in a changing climate. A physical bottom-up approach is used to simulate the residential space cooling demand and to identify the passive cooling potential whilst considering a detailed representation of the Swiss building stock, featuring building age, construction properties, regional climate, urban layout and occupant behaviour. A supervised building type classification approach is applied to enable up-scaling to the national level. Results show that in 2050, the residential Swiss building stock will require a national cooling demand of around 10.2 TWh for a Representative Concentration Pathway scenario 4.5. Under such future climatic conditions, we simulated a potential to reduce the total cooling demand by 84%, with both passive cooling solutions combined. Individually, window shading could reduce it by 71% and night ventilation by 38%. We found that newer buildings (built after 2000) already account for about 50% of the total current cooling energy demand. Results demonstrate that night ventilation and window shading have the potential to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland and to improve the sustainability and resilience of residential cooling.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/23565
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	CC BY 4.0: Attribution 4.0 International
Departement:	Architecture, Design and Civil Engineering
Organisational Unit:	Institute for Building Technologies and Processes (IBP)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Architektur, Gestaltung und Bauingenieurwesen

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Silva, R., Eggimann, S., Fierz, L., Fiorentini, M., Orehounig, K., & Baldini, L. (2021). Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland. Building and Environment, 208(108574). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574

Silva, R. et al. (2021) ‘Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland’, Building and Environment, 208(108574). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574.

R. Silva, S. Eggimann, L. Fierz, M. Fiorentini, K. Orehounig, and L. Baldini, “Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland,” Building and Environment, vol. 208, no. 108574, Nov. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574.

SILVA, Ricardo, Sven EGGIMANN, Léonie FIERZ, Massimo FIORENTINI, Kristina OREHOUNIG und Luca BALDINI, 2021. Opportunities for passive cooling to mitigate the impact of climate change in Switzerland. Building and Environment. November 2021. Bd. 208, Nr. 108574. DOI 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574

Silva, Ricardo, Sven Eggimann, Léonie Fierz, Massimo Fiorentini, Kristina Orehounig, and Luca Baldini. 2021. “Opportunities for Passive Cooling to Mitigate the Impact of Climate Change in Switzerland.” Building and Environment 208 (108574). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574.

Silva, Ricardo, et al. “Opportunities for Passive Cooling to Mitigate the Impact of Climate Change in Switzerland.” Building and Environment, vol. 208, no. 108574, Nov. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108574.