International. A mixed ventilation design was developed by two UK universities, Loughborough and De Montfort, to reduce energy consumption in an office and conference hall building located in Hangzhou, China.
In this population, temperatures in summer reach 35° C, and the greatest load of energy use is due to air conditioning, for that reason, educational institutions created strategies to improve energy consumption without affecting the comfort of the occupants of the Museum of Science and Technology.
Some strategies were as follows:
- Use of mechanical systems only in summer and winter seasons, on demand and by sectors.
- Natural ventilation and cooling the rest of the time
- Atrium and chimneys to encourage cross ventilation and by thermosyphon effect.
- Concrete to mitigate the effects of temperature.
- Sun protection devices.
- Underground heat pump.
- Convective cold ceilings.
Through the modeling technique (Computer Fluid Dynamics) they sought to guarantee comfort, therefore, in the months of April and October the loads by mechanical systems are minimal, and in extreme seasons, the loads are reduced to achieve a reduction of energy consumption by air conditioning of 35%.
In summer, the building uses two methods to preserve the air conditioning provision. In the passive strategy fresh air enters through the main atrium and is distributed through the spaces and while it gains heat by people, equipment and external conditions, it rises and exits through the chimneys. In the active strategy, the air is cooled beforehand and the atrium is isolated from the outside to reduce air conditioning losses.
* With information published by the Colombian Council of Sustainable Construction (CCCS).
