Passive cooling techniques for building and their applicability in different climatic zones—The state of art

•The present review provides a detailed description, classification and thorough literature related to passive cooling techniques for building application.•All passive cooling techniques classified as heat protection, heat modulation and heat dissipation are included.•The performance of each passive cooling technique is elaborated for different climatic conditions.•This review will serve as a guide in the selection of suitable passive cooling technique for building application. Building energy consumption is a vital component of the global energy mandate. A major part of the building energy is consumed in providing thermal comfort to occupants. Passive cooling techniques can be a promising alternative to satisfy the cooling requirements of the building as well as to reduce the building energy consumption. Selection of suitable passive cooling technique is dependent on many factors, including climatic conditions, building space constraints and performance of the passive technique. Thus, in order to adopt a suitable passive cooling technique for a given building, a thorough knowledge of different passive cooling techniques along with their applications and performance parameters is necessary. The objective of this article is to provide a comprehensive review on passive cooling techniques along with its classification, working, applications, recent developments and to analyze the influence of significant parameters such as building cooling load and indoor temperature on the performance of passive cooling techniques. The review establishes that passive cooling techniques have the potential to maintain the indoor temperature within comfort range while reducing the building cooling load.