Using a passive design toolset to evaluate low-cost cooling strategies for an industrial facility in a hot and dry climate

This study outlines the energy saving potential of natural cooling design strategies in a large maintenance hangar facility located in Boise Idaho, USA. A new series of climate-based design tools for calculating energy savings were developed to evaluate the feasibility and potential effectiveness of natural ventilation systems. Based on the building's heat gains, these tools estimated the required cooling capacity. Results indicate that 43% of occupied-only periods between shoulder seasons (May and September) have the potential to obtain free cooling from the outdoor air via natural ventilation strategies. The research included a comparison of the Climate Design Toolset with advanced energy simulation methods. This comparison built confidence in the tools and in some cases brought attention to areas that require caution when implementing them. The validity analysis represents the hand calculations which produced similar results compared to the simulation at an acceptable level of confidence for early design analysis.