There is a wide range of factors that influence natural ventilation. The uncertainties arising from the unpredictable nature of wind lead to the need to account for periods of time when winds are unable to provide indoor summer comfort. Some methods for estimating natural ventilation are outlined together with the effects of high site coverage, building porosity, insect screens, and local wind shelter from adjacent houses and vegetation. Indoor wind speed coefficients provide a direct method for comparing the natural ventilation potential of housing stock. Adaptive thermal comfort establishes the monthly temperature for operative comfort and comfort zone to accommodate 80% of people. Houses in the tropical city of Townsville in Australia are used to examine the potential for indoor summer thermal comfort. Ceiling fans can provide an energy-efficient back-up source of air movement for indoor comfort when winds are inadequate. The poor potential for natural ventilation of most contemporary housing stock with high site-coverage, raises concern for its long-term sustainability.
Director, Research and Development, Delta T Corporation, Lexington, Kentucky, US, doing business as Big Ass Fans.
Graduated from The University of New South Wales, Sydney with BArch(Hons I) in 1964. Earned a MS in Architectural Engineering at Pennsylvania State University in 1967 and PhD at The University of New South Wales in 1978. After working in architectural practices in Sydney, Philadelphia and Townsville he commenced an academic career in 1969 at The University of New South Wales and later The University of Sydney in Department of Architectural Science for 10 years. He was appointed Head of Architecture and Building at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology in 1979 and went from there to Georgia Institute of Technology were he was Professor of Architectural Technology until 1989. From US he went to The University of Auckland in New Zealand where he served as Dean of Architecture Property and Planning as well as Head of Architecture. In 1993 he was appointed conjointly to the UNESCO chair of Tropical Architecture at James Cook University until 2000 when he was appointed Dean of Engineering Technology.His research interests have been in natural ventilation for thermal comfort and tropical architecture design technologies. More recent work has been in improving the design of high volume low speed fans and energy efficient building design. He serves on standards and professional committees relating to architectural aerodynamics and thermal comfort.
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