Cost benefit analysis of the night-time ventilative cooling in office building

The indoor temperature can be controlled with different levels of accuracy depending on the building and its HVAC system. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential productivity benefits of improved temperature control, and to apply the information for a cost-benefit analyses of night-time ventilative cooling, which is a very energy efficient method of reducing indoor daytime temperatures. We analyzed the literature relating work performance with temperature, and found a general decrement in work performance when temperatures exceeded those associated with thermal neutrality. These studies included physiological modelling, performance of various tasks in laboratory experiments and measured productivity at work in real buildings. The studies indicate an average 2% decrement in work performance per degree oC temperature rise, when the temperature is above 25 oC. When we use this relationship to evaluate night- time ventilative cooling, the resulting benefit to cost ratio varies from 32 to 120.