Analysis of energy saving using natural ventilation in a traditional Italian building

In summer natural ventilation is the most effective passive cooling system of the Mediterranean area. The correct exposure of the buildings and of the urban morphology to prevailing winds allows reducing the cooling loads also in non-bioclimatic buildings, without any cost. This paper points out the cooling capacity and the possibilities of energy saving offered by a correct natural ventilation by means of the simulation of a non-bioclimatic building, that is, a building having common characteristics as for construction materials and technologies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.