AT-84-05-2 -- Ventilation Cooling of Residential Buildings PDF

The effectiveness of ventilating residential buildings with unconditioned outdoor air as an adjunct to, or replacement for, conventional vapor-compression air conditioning has been examined. The work reported was based on total energy analyses of a prototypical residential building in 24 locations throughout the continental United States. The energy analyses assumed fan-forced ventilation and examined the relative merits of various control strategies and various configurations of thermal mass within the building. Where possible, the results of these studies are extrapolated to conditions of natural ventilation. The primary conclusions are that (1) ventilation has the potential to substantially reduce cooling energy use in the residential sector, (2) levels of thermal mass above those typically found in new construction enhance the effectiveness of ventilation over conventional air-conditioning technology, effective means must be developed for exchanging heat with the external environment without allowing intrusion of moisture-laden air.