ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the state of the art on passive cooling technologies for buildings. The penetration of air conditioning is increasing rapidly all around the world. This has an important energy and environmental impact. During recent years, passive cooling techniques have received great attention which has resulted in important developments. The first part of the chapter discusses the actual penetration of air conditioning systems and problems resulting from using mechanical cooling. The second part classifies passive cooling systems while the third and fourth parts deal with the urban microclimate and possible improvements to urban thermal conditions. Finally, the fifth part discusses the recent progress on heat and solar control, thermal comfort and heat inertia techniques as well as heat dissipation methods.
