17 2 Passive, Low Cost Conditioning Summary by Eduardo Gascón | Session chair: Leon Glicksman Panel Introduction by Prof. Les Norford As the frequency of extreme weather events increases worldwide and the need to minimize the operational emissions of buildings becomes more pressing, there is a clear need to rethink how buildings are conditioned. The second panel of the Festschrift approaches this question through three key ideas. First, the understanding of thermal comfort as an energy balance defined by not air temperature but also radiant temperature, relative humidity, and air speed. This approach is critical in designing low-energy space-conditioning systems that focus on occupants, as demonstrated in many of talks throughout the panel. Second, leveraging available heat sinks and sources through passive/low-energy strategies offers a more sustainable and climate-specific approach to building conditioning: nightflush ventilation, radiative cooling, and ground cooling are some examples mentioned in the session. Finally, improving the ability of buildings to store heat through, for example, thermal mass, is an essential aspect to moderate temperature fluctuations and improve their resilience to extreme weather events. Efficient Dehumidification (Prof. David Warsinger) Cooling processes within buildings have a significant environmental impact, accounting for 10% of the total electricity consumed worldwide and 4% of global emissions. Prof. Warsinger’s presentation focused on the latent load associated with cooling (which represents half of its energy demand) and the potential for using membrane-based technologies as a promising low-energy solution to dehumidification. Conventional air-conditioning (AC) systems dehumidify air by over-cooling it below its dew point, an energy-intensive process that leads to condensation. Alternatively, selective membranes allow water vapor to permeate while blocking air molecule transportation. In this way, the sensible and the latent loads are decoupled and treated separately. The development of novel membrane technologies, many of which are led by Prof. Warsinger’s group, focuses on addressing the Fig 2.1 Passive, low-cost conditioning (Design: Nada Tarkhan)
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