Radiative cooling oases for condensation-free personal cooling in ambient environments

Building space cooling has a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in hot climates, necessitating reduced energy consumption. Conventional "one-size-fits-all" cooling systems waste energy by cooling unused spaces. This study presents a solution for improving space cooling efficiency: condensation-free personalized radiant cooling. This personalized strategy uses two radiant cooling boards placed on either side of an occupant to create a "cooling oasis," which provides localized comfort without cooling the entire space. The decoupled design enables lower radiant cooling temperatures (5°C–10°C) without condensation risk, increasing flexibility. The microthermal environment and thermal comfort of the cooling oasis were characterized through experiments, demonstrating the ability of the technology to maintain comfort at uncomfortable ambient temperatures of 28°C–30°C. When the ambient temperature is raised from 24°C to 28°C–30°C, this approach could save 20%–30% of energy consumption.