The Passive Cooling Working Group is a joint working group between GlobalABC and Cool Coalition, where we will address passive cooling strategies (PCS) for hot countries that are affected by increasing temperatures and humidities. The reason behind is that many developing countries in hot climates have committed to energy efficient and resilient buildings in an effort to reduce cooling demand and emissions in the context of the National Cooling Action Plan (NCAP), NDC, Global Cooling Pledge, Buildings Breakthrough, Declaration de Chaillot, etc. The WG will serve as a knowledge hub and networking platform for those interested in PCS to share their experiences/resources to accelerate the enhancement of building policies and their implementation on the ground.
The WG co-chairs were announced - Rajan Rawal (CEPT University), Lorenzo Pagliano (Politecnico di Milano, Public University) and Huub Keizers (TNO/CIB), who were selected as a result of the member survey. UNEP-hosted GlobalABC/CoolCoalition will act as the WG facilitator, and all the WG members are encouraged to contribute to the WG activities that they find interesting. The regular meeting will be held bi-monthly, where the WG will invite our members to present their projects and resources for knowledge-sharing purposes, followed by the member discussion. The contents will be accumulated in UNEP GlobalABC and CoolCoalition websites, which could be future input for the development of publications, etc.
The keynote presentation was given by Eva Vaskuti (Central European University) (on behalf of Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, IPCC Vice Chair). The title of the presentation was “Providing thermal security through energy efficient methods is a matter of survival for many regions”. She presented the global trend of heat-humidity risk to human health and the cooling gap in 2050 (access to air-conditioners, etc.), where passive cooling and nature-based solutions are critical measures to provide thermal safety. This was elaborated by two examples: Hungary and Morocco. Finally, the lock-in effect – the gap created by the difference between moderate sufficiency and deep sufficiency measures – was highlighted as a serious consequence by 2060. To avoid this, better policies and technologies are essential. Based on the keynote, the participants discussed;
- Today's decisions on building design will have a lock-in effect that will determine the fate of building energy efficiency for several decades, even 100 years ahead, requiring immediate action to decarbonise buildings.
- It is estimated that in the Global South, 70-75% of the existing building stock in 2050 has not yet been built. A knowledge-sharing platform of best practices and resources is being developed to help achieve net-zero energy buildings in these countries.
- Canadian cities are experiencing rising temperatures and need immediate action. There is an initiative to test different types of passive cooling and nature-based solutions in different cities to reduce UHI effects, which aims to address future heat-related mortality and morbidity. Some findings and results may be presented at the future WG regular meeting.
- The human risk posed by increasing temperatures/humidity needs to be discussed together with thermal comfort. Is there a risk threshold for human health? Will some level of active solutions be needed along with passive solutions at some point in the future?
For the recording of the meeting, please find the link here.
For the general information of the working group, please find the GlobalABC and CoolCoalition websites.
Please feel free to contact our co-chairs for queries and suggestions.
- Rajan Rawal, CEPT University ([email protected])
- Lorenzo Pagliano, Politecnico di Milano, Public University ([email protected])
- Huub Keizers, TNO/CIB ([email protected])
We welcome new members. To join, please feel free to contact us below.
- Gennai Kamata ([email protected]), UNEP/GlobalABC/CoolCoalition
- Manjeet Singh ([email protected]), UNEP/CoolCoalition