Balancing radiative cooling with thermal mass and buoyancy ventilation

Global demand for space cooling is increasing due to climate change. In this study, the coupling of radiative cooling, thermal mass, and buoyancy ventilation is investigated as an alternative to mechanical air-conditioning. A scalable analytical model is calibrated from a reduced-scale experiment to investigate the effect of different thermal mass distributions between an uninsulated roof radiator and an enclosed space. It is found that a high-mass roof radiator is a viable option for summertime temperature and natural ventilation stability, but a light (or thin) roof radiator and more thermal mass indoors is a more efficient option. Maximum nighttime cooling can be achieved at the expense of temperature stability.