ABSTRACT
Improvement of the energy performance of buildings and achievement of indoor comfort conditions can be attained by passive cooling techniques and energy efficient measures. Natural ventilation is one of the simplest and most widely applied cooling strategies, achieved by permitting air to flow through the building. The solar chimney is a construction on the building’s envelope that exploits solar energy to promote ventilation through the building. The typical configurations of a solar chimney and the principles of its operation are presented in this chapter. An overview is given of past and ongoing research on experimental work and modelling of the performance of different solar chimney configurations. The work is concluded by identifying the main advantages and disadvantages of solar chimneys.
