Abstract
Current trend in building construction pushes towards high insulated and airtight buildings which, if not supported by a sufficient and effective ventilation, lead to a poor indoor air quality and increase the overheating risk. Although natural ventilation, combined with other passive strategies, has the potential to avoid the use of active cooling in most residential buildings, drawbacks due to occupant prevent its application in new buildings design. Controlled natural ventilation allows to overcome this drawback by fully exploiting the potential of ventilation through the activation and control of all the windows within an apartment in a synergic way. The paper investigates the potential of controlled natural ventilation in a multifamily house under northern Italian climate. A multizone reference apartment model has been simulated under a controlled natural ventilation strategy through a coupled thermal and airflow model able to predict natural airflows within the apartment. The impact of controlled natural ventilation will be evaluated in terms of thermal comfort, reduction of ventilation loads for health-based ventilation, and on capital costs of ventilation due to the replacement of cooling and ventilation system as well as on operation and maintenance costs.