Improving habitability in social housing through passive cooling: a case study in Mengíbar (Jaén, Spain)

This paper presents the deep renovation of a social housing district in Mengíbar (Jaén, Spain) through the promotion of passive improvement strategies adapted to the reality of the inhabitants: a population with limited resources that often finds itself in a circumstance of energy vulnerability. The district is located in a predominantly hot climate where the buildings suffer from severe overheating and high cooling needs. This poor habitability is due to the high thermal discomfort associated with the observed energy poverty. Therefore, the first mitigation action is the optimal energy rehabilitation project proposal. However, this actuation is not enough to solve the problem. A ventilated roof is proposed and implemented as a passive cooling technique that allows environmental heat sinks such as night ventilation and evaporative cooling. This solution is implemented on roofs measuring more than 2500 m2 to demonstrate its level of technological readiness in a relevant environment. Together with the proposed ventilated roof, the renovation studied produces a significant decrease in thermal discomfort of up to 80% and 70% in cooling needs.