Natural Ventilation in Building Design - How Does It Work?

11 Jun 2021

At Varming Consulting Engineers Ltd., we have been active in the Irish construction industry since the 1940’s and during that time, we have been involved with all kinds of projects. In the modern era, the focus has very much been on creating greener, more sustainable buildings. 

In this blog, we take a look at natural ventilation, an increasingly used, eco-friendly method for controlling indoor climates that greatly reduces the need to use the more power dependent HVAC systems. 

How the Natural Ventilation Principle Works
Natural ventilation, as the name implies, is a system using natural forces to supply fresh air for occupant comfort and heat dissipation. As an alternative to mechanical (fan forced) ventilation, this approach relies on the natural forces of wind and buoyancy to deliver fresh air to indoor spaces.

Natural ventilation provides fresh air to interiors, ensuring buildings built for domestic and commercial properties are safe, healthy and comfortable to live and work in. Replacing stale air with fresher air from outside makes it possible to regulate internal temperatures and humidity.

The three primary methods being single sided ventilation which offers one main opening for both fresh air flow and the purging of stagnant air, cross ventilation with openings on two separate faces of the building and stack ventilation where, as air at higher temperatures rises, the fresh air is induced via a set of openings at a lower level .

The advantages of natural ventilation are many, including reduced equipment cost, reduced maintenance requirements and improved working environment and can have a tremendous positive impact on its occupants, building and the environment.

Talk to the Varming Experts About Your Project Requirements
Natural ventilation is just one of the wide range of sustainable methods that’s used by the Varming team in our client projects. If you would like to know more about us and the many projects we’ve been involved with over the years, visit us online at www.varming.ie. 

Alternatively, if you would like to talk to our experts about your building project needs, call our Dublin HQ on (0)1 4872300.

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