People living in hot, humid climates suffer either from extremely uncomfortable weather conditions or from the great cost of air-conditioning systems for maintaining comfort. Most of the available passive cooling techniques which are applicable to other climates have been proven to be ineffective in hot, humid climates. This thesis examines the available passive cooling techniques and describes their potential and limitations . This thesis also proposes a series of passive cooling design solutions for the multifamily residences found in hot, humid climates like Taipei. In addition, a low-cost cooling system is developed as a substitute for conventional high-cost air-conditioning systems, to be used during periods when passive means are incapable of maintaining human comfort. This newly proposed system employs a seasonal cooling reservoir coupled to a heat pump DHW heater. The continuous heat extraction from the cooling reservoir for DHW needs makes the reservoir an effective cooling resource in the summer.
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