ABSTRACT
A surge in demand for cooling is hitting all building types, driven largely by growth in economies and populations, urbanisation, rising expectations, poorer climatic design of buildings and record-breaking increases in temperatures almost everywhere. Two life and death concerns result: How to ensure personal health and thermal safety of populations and how to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from buildings that are threatening the health of the climate and the planet. Facing such challenges, cooling with radiative surfaces by thermally activating the room’s surfaces, offers a powerful and resilient alternative to air-conditioning. In fact, cooling with radiative surfaces, driven by night ventilation, is a most traditional and widespread measure to obtain indoor comfort in hot regions. Recently, there are promising results from hydronic building mass activation, increasing the range of environmental heat sinks that may be utilised. This chapter presents the principles, chances and limitations of cooling with thermally activated, radiative surfaces. It presents technical solutions to combine cooling with radiative surfaces with environmental heat sinks. Finally, this chapter argues for extending the application of the adaptive comfort theory to buildings that improve summerly indoor conditions by thermally activated building structures.
