Hi Colin,
In your earlier post you mentioned wanting \"ridge vents or some other form of top vent plus eve vents to allow a cooling airflow beneath the hot roof\" and also designing the house \"only one room deep with windows on opposite sides to allow unrestricted flow.\"
Have you considered an attic fan? They were very common here in Texas before air conditioning (sort of 1950s and before).
For those not familiar, it is a very large fan, usually 3 to 5 foot blade diameter, usually mounted horizontally in the attic above the central area of the house, with the opening in the ceiling covered by some type of grate, often decorative metal or lattice work. When turned on, the fan pulls air from the living area below, through the attic, and out through vents, usually eve vents. This creates a constant breeze through the house, and the area of the breeze can be controlled by which windows are open. (there are several variations, but this is the most common)
About 20 years ago I remodeled and lived for several years in a home that had been built in 1928. It had steam furnace heating and no air conditioning. It was a large 2 story with a 5 foot fan mounted in the attic above the central staircase. When I first moved in, it had Zero insulation in either the attic or the walls. The exterior of the house was entirely 10 inch white Austin Stone and the roof was 1 inch thick dark-red half-barrel Mexican tile... so this provided some \"insulation\" from the exterior heat.
It was about 8 months before retrofitted central heat and air was working, so I went through one Texas summer with only a window unit I mounted in the master bedroom. Much to my surprise, most of the time the rest of the house was quite pleasant with the brisk breeze provided by the attic fan.
I have regretted not having an attic fan in every house I have since lived in. If I build in the RP, do you know any reason one would not be practical?
Tom