Stratum ventilation has been proposed to cope for elevated indoor temperatures recommended by governments in East Asia TRNSYS is used for computation of the space cooling load and system energy consumption Typical configurations of an office a classroom and a retail shop in Hong Kong are investigated Compared with mixing ventilation and displacement ventilation stratum ventilation derives its energy saving potential largely from the following three factors the reduction in ventilation and transmission loads and increased COP of chillers The year-round energy saving is found to be substantial at 25% and 44% at least when compared with displacement ventilation and mixing ventilation respectively (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved