The performance of office building cooling systems is sufficient, but the need for cooling increases as the climate warms up

A recent study assessed the performance of two different mechanical cooling systems in a typical modern office building in the changing climate of Finland. The observations focused on a ventilation system based solely on cooling the supply air, and a system that cools both the supply air and the spaces.

Photo: Adobe Stock

According to the results, cooling systems designed using the current design days for cooling can keep the indoor temperature of the office building below 25 degrees even in the changed climate of the 2050s. However, the electricity consumption for cooling will increase considerably.

Further information:

Aalto University, Senior Scientist Juha Jokisalo, juha.jokisalo@aalto.fi, 050 407 2287

Aalto University, Professor Risto Kosonen, risto.kosonen@aalto.fi, 040 502 7484

Finnish Meteorological Institute, Docent Kirsti Jylhä, kirsti.jylha@fmi.fi, 050 433 6554

Finnish Meteorological Institute, Researcher Natalia Korhonen, natalia.korhonen@fmi.fi, 050 919 5454

Scientific article available on Journal of Building Engineering.

Reference: Velashjerdi Farahani A., Juha Jokisalo J., Korhonen N., Jylhä K., Kosonen R., Lestinen S., 2022: Performance assessment of ventilative and radiant cooling systems in office buildings during extreme weather conditions under a changing climate. Journal of Building Engineering, 57, 104951, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104951.

Science newsClimateVentilation