The study investigated the performance of a solar chimney, which is integrated into a south facade of a one-story building, as well as the effect on the heating and cooling loads of the building by using a CFD simulation and an analytical model. A C programming code was developed for the calculation of the heating and cooling loads by the heat balance method. The analytical equations of a solar chimney were incorporated into the heat balance calculation. The results showed that the fan shaft power requirement was reduced by about 50% in annual total due to the natural ventilation. It was also found that the solar chimney was beneficial to reduce the heating load by about 20% during the heating season. The annual thermal load mitigation was estimated as 12% by taking the increase of the cooling load into account. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.