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Natural Ventilation  »  Wind driven ventilation

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Savings

Natural ventilation in combination with correct thermal mass and scheduling could potentially save high amount of energy by eliminating or limiting the use of mechanical ventilation. Where natural ventilation is also used as a means of passive cooling, the energy savings are much more. Oropeza-Perez & Ostergaard (2013) concluded that by using natural ventilation for cooling purposes in Mexican residential sector could potentially mitigate CO₂ equivalent emissions of 2.89 Mt CO₂eq per year. Sassi (2013) studies the effects of natural ventilation in a Passivhaus standard building located in a mild maritime climate in the UK. It has been concluded in the study that by operating the building in free running natural ventilation mode instead of operating the mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) system saved up to 57 kWh primary energy/m²a than the predicted 93 kWh primary energy/m²a without causing any discomfort to the inmates. Naturally ventilated offices (in UK) have 25-50% lesser annual energy costs than air-conditioned offices. As suggested by recent British Council for Offices report on office sustainability, undertaken by multi-disciplinary consultant Arup, natural ventilation has a payback period of two-and-a-half years (Mayer, 2005).

Costs

The cost for wind-driven ventilation is very low as it solely depends on the careful building design and planning with respect to the climate zones and micro-climate. It helps to reduce operating costs for cooling as the energy consumption for air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation is not required or limited (in extreme climate condition).