Energy saving potential of a fresh air pre-cooling system using radiative sky cooling

To achieve required indoor air quality, fresh air supply in buildings should meet relevant standards and regulations. However, the handling of fresh air introduced a cooling load that takes up a large portion of building energy consumption, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. A proper way should be employed to reduce the cooling load of fresh air. Radiative sky cooling, which is the process that an object cools itself by emitting thermal radiation to outer space without any energy input, is a cost-effective and eco-friendly technology. In this work, a fresh air pre-cooling system using radiative sky cooling is proposed to reduce fresh air cooling load. The system, consisting of filters, a radiative air-cooling system, an air handling unit (AHU), fans, etc., is installed on the rooftop of the modeled building. Six cities in low-latitude areas are selected and investigated. Results show that with the radiative air-cooling system installed, annual cooling energy consumption of the modeled building can be reduced by around 10% in most cities. For arid areas, e.g., Abu Dhabi, the system has even better performance with 19.34% annual cooling energy saving.