Undesirably high room temperatures are often a problem in office buildings, and this is set to increase as low-energy building and office buildings with extensive glass facades become more common.
Offices with high internal heat load or large glazed areas with insufficient sun screening need proper ventilation and cooling.
Just reducing the room temperature from 28°C to 26°C increases productivity by approx. 2-3% (source: Technical University of Denmark (DTU)).
The energy framework calculation confers a "penalty" if the temperature exceeds 26 °C, whether there is a cooling system or not. It could therefore be said that as far as the energy framework calculation is concerned, establishment of cooling is "free of charge".
The cooling requirement of an office space is typically between 35 and 70W/m2, but should be calculated specifically in each case.
In ordinary offices the CO2 load will often be low, but in e.g. meeting rooms and open plan offices with high load from people, the CO2 load will necessitate mechanical ventilation.
