Open the windows, its so hot in here! In major parts of India it is quite hot for most part of the year. Ancient home grown architecture always takes that into account and buildings are built that way. However, recently our copy west principles have seen architects rampantly copy western glass structures and bring them to India. Ever thought why so many glass structures are built in the western world? It is simply to capture the heat of the sun and keep the premises warm.
In India, we have so much perpendicular sun rays falling on our structures that we scarcely need entire walls of glass. And yet, copy west means that all the "modern" buildings are built of glass. This results in huge energy costs for our buildings since they have to be artificially cooled. Thus, whereas use of glass is eco-friendly in the west it is eco-wasteful in India. Architects, please think a bit more when you design the next building.
There are a lot of ideas for increasing the light in a building and using as much as the Sun's light must be encouraged. Just remember we need to cool our building interiors and not warm them up like many western countries.
People do discuss energy efficiency in buildings a lot. Here is a question-answer about south facing windows in North America. This website also talks about south facing windows only applicable for areas with higher latitudes. A book Energy-Efficient Buildings In India By Mili Majumdar seems to be a promising starting point with various aspects taken into consideration about energy efficiency of buildings in various climatic zones in India.
In India, we have so much perpendicular sun rays falling on our structures that we scarcely need entire walls of glass. And yet, copy west means that all the "modern" buildings are built of glass. This results in huge energy costs for our buildings since they have to be artificially cooled. Thus, whereas use of glass is eco-friendly in the west it is eco-wasteful in India. Architects, please think a bit more when you design the next building.
There are a lot of ideas for increasing the light in a building and using as much as the Sun's light must be encouraged. Just remember we need to cool our building interiors and not warm them up like many western countries.
People do discuss energy efficiency in buildings a lot. Here is a question-answer about south facing windows in North America. This website also talks about south facing windows only applicable for areas with higher latitudes. A book Energy-Efficient Buildings In India By Mili Majumdar seems to be a promising starting point with various aspects taken into consideration about energy efficiency of buildings in various climatic zones in India.
No comments:
Post a Comment