ABSTRACT
Climate change is the key environmental challenge to the planet and its people for the remainder of the twenty-first century. This chapter discusses the potential impacts of climate change on buildings and considers the options for changes to building design to make buildings more resilient to future climates. The expected climate change patterns for precipitation are, typically, drier summers, wetter winters and a greater incidence of heavy rainstorms. Subsidence is a significant cause of building damage and climate change is only likely to make things worse. The key building fabric responses to climate change will involve solar shading, thermal mass, ventilation and insulation. Natural ventilation strategies involve wind driven forces and stack or buoyancy forces, which are driven by the height between inlet and outlet ventilation openings and the indoor-outdoor temperature difference. In addition to night cooling, ventilation is obviously important in buildings for providing fresh air, removing stale air, controlling relative humidity and offering day time cooling in summer.
