Natural Ventilation

Photo: AAM123. License: CC BY-SA 3.0

There are three primary reasons to design a building for natural ventilation.

  • Energy savings can be dramatic.

  • Occupant satisfaction is usually very high.

  • Indoor air quality is significantly better.

So why isn’t natural ventilation just a given in every design? It usually has more to do with perception than with physics.

Here you’ll find an in-depth look at the benefits of and barriers to natural ventilation as well as strategies for smart design.

Natural Ventilation

Deep Dives

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  • Clean, Fresh Air: Getting What We Need

    Feature Article

    Human health probably benefits from more fresh air than current ventilation standards require. But pulling in outdoor air can mean pulling in pollution.

  • Natural Ventilation: The Nine Biggest Obstacles and How Project Teams Are Beating Them

    Feature Article

    Designers are reinventing the art and science of passive comfort control even where climate and culture favor mechanical systems.

  • Designing for the Next Century's Weather

    Feature Article

    How do you create a climate-responsive building in a changing climate? Brand new modeling techniques are helping us figure it out.

  • Design for Adaptation: Living in a Climate-Changing World

    Feature Article

    Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, rising global temperatures would still bring major changes to the climate system and our way of life. This article offers solutions for designing buildings that not only mitigate our impact on the global climate, but also adapt to the changes that are coming-and those that are already here.

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Learning Resources

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  • Clean, Fresh Air: Getting What We Need

    Feature Article

    Human health probably benefits from more fresh air than current ventilation standards require. But pulling in outdoor air can mean pulling in pollution.

  • Natural Ventilation: The Nine Biggest Obstacles and How Project Teams Are Beating Them

    Feature Article

    Designers are reinventing the art and science of passive comfort control even where climate and culture favor mechanical systems.

  • Designing for the Next Century's Weather

    Feature Article

    How do you create a climate-responsive building in a changing climate? Brand new modeling techniques are helping us figure it out.

  • Design for Adaptation: Living in a Climate-Changing World

    Feature Article

    Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, rising global temperatures would still bring major changes to the climate system and our way of life. This article offers solutions for designing buildings that not only mitigate our impact on the global climate, but also adapt to the changes that are coming-and those that are already here.

Just For Fun

Something weird happens every April at BuildingGreen...

  • Check if your spelling is correct, or try removing filters.
  • Remove quotes around phrases to match each word individually: "blue drop" will match less than blue drop.
  • You can require or exclude terms using + and -: big +blue drop will require a match on blue while big blue -drop will exclude results that contain drop.