Ventilation, whether mechanical or natural, may be used for:
Air Quality Control: to control building air quality, by diluting internally-generated air contaminants with cleaner outdoor air,
Direct Advective Cooling: to directly cool building interiors by replacing or diluting warm indoor air with cooler outdoor air when conditions are favorable,
Direct Personal Cooling: to directly cool building occupants by directing cool outdoor air over building occupants at sufficient velocity to enhance convective transport of heat and moisture from the occupants, and
Indirect Night Cooling: to indirectly cool building interiors by pre-cooling thermally massive components of the building fabric or a thermal storage system with cool nighttime outdoor air.
Natural ventilation may be defined as ventilation provided by thermal, wind or diffusion effects through doors, windows, or other intentional openings in the building as opposed to mechanical ventilation that is ventilation provided by mechanically powered equipment such as motor-driven fans and blowers.
Using natural ventilation for cooling can be very effective on its own and can negate the need for mechanical ventilation which consumes a significant amount of energy. See some examples of the effectiveness of natural ventilation in various climates here.
Ventilation
Ventilation, whether mechanical or natural, may be used for:
Natural ventilation may be defined as ventilation provided by thermal, wind or diffusion effects through doors, windows, or other intentional openings in the building as opposed to mechanical ventilation that is ventilation provided by mechanically powered equipment such as motor-driven fans and blowers.
Using natural ventilation for cooling can be very effective on its own and can negate the need for mechanical ventilation which consumes a significant amount of energy. See some examples of the effectiveness of natural ventilation in various climates here.
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