A Systematic Review of Passive Cooling Methods in Hot and Humid Climates Using a Text Mining-Based Bibliometric Approach

The number of scientific papers has dramatically increased in recent years; however, such a huge number of papers often become difficult to review qualitatively because of limited time and cost. A text-mining-based bibliometric analysis method is developed to provide a comprehensive overview of passive cooling methods used in buildings in hot and humid climates. First, a comprehensive overview analysis is conducted to clarify the trends in studies on passive cooling methods between 1970 and 2022, using 39,604 publications. Second, 15 coding rules are constructed to perform a detailed analysis, and possible combinations of passive cooling methods are discussed. The detailed analysis of the co-occurrence network based on the comprehensive overview and 15 coding rules shows that the recent studies on thermal energy storage have mainly focused on phase change material (PCM), which is a latent heat storage material, rather than sensible heat storage materials such as concrete. The analysis of the co-occurrence network indicates that natural ventilation maintains the vital role of passive cooling methods by improving thermal comfort in hot climates. The constructed method and possible combinations of passive cooling methods for hot and humid climates will help engineers find effective combinations in the planning stage.