Putting it into practice

Cooling

requires a stack effect to work, i.e. an atrium;
can be designed into existing buildings as well as new builds - DEFRA introduced this into the refurbishment of one of their main buildings, Nobel House in Victoria, London;
end users need educating to open the windows to create the air flow, alternatively mechanical actuators linked to a BMS can be used - for these, one needs to consider individual control over central control;
openable windows equals noise pollution in urban areas so their use needs to be carefully considered.

chilled ceilings consist of a conducting material with water (or sometimes refrigerant) passing through them to cool the material - giving a radiant cooling effect with minimal air flow;
chilled ceilings can be created using precast concrete floors with pipework cast in or a separate suspended ceiling that could be used as a feature ceiling;
chilled beams - water based refrigerant passes through the chilled beam at 15-18oC, through finned pipes allowing a downflow of cool air which creates an upflow of warm air to allow circulation and therefore cooling;
have no mechanical parts therefore there is little maintenance or replacement required, lower servicing costs and no fan noise;
can be used in conjunction with ground source heat pumps as the water supply;
can be used with hot water passing through them to provide heating in winter;
need to consider fresh air supply - best used in conjunction with natural ventilation.