The Effectiveness of Night Ventilation Technique for Residential Buildings in Hot-Humid Climate of Malaysia

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of night ventilation technique for residential buildings in hot-humid climate of Malaysia. The effects of different natural ventilation strategies on indoor thermal environment for Malaysian terraced houses are evaluated based on the results of a full-scale field experiment. The results show that the night ventilation technique lowers the peak indoor air temperature by 2.5°C and reduces nocturnal air temperature by 2.0°C on average, compared with the current window opening patterns, i.e. daytime ventilation. It can be seen that night ventilation would provide better thermal comfort conditions for occupants in Malaysian terraced houses compared with the other ventilation strategies. However, the indoor humidity control in the daytime such as by dehumidification would be needed when the night ventilation technique is applied.