CLIMATE RESPONSIVE DESIGN AS A SOLUTION TO CONSERVE ENERGY
15 July 2023 . Ar.Inniya Arutchudar

The most important thing in our country is the day-to-day demand of energy. This is one of the biggest problems in India. Nowadays, buildings are the major cause for global warming and formation of urban heat island. Many passive design strategies have been followed in many buildings. Bio climatic towers are designed nowadays to conserve energy and also to make the building climatically responsive. Sun is our best companion from earlier days. Ancient people make use of the sun in
different ways. Nowadays, we people use sun to get energy in the form of solar energy.

People are creating many things to escape from harsh climate of sun. So, basic form and material to take out the sun is increasing. Energy is a thread that connects growth and environment. It is a very important force powering business, goods, transportation, residences etc. Many studies have concluded that energy demand increases and at the end of the year 2030, we will reach the peak in energy demand. People have come through many energy crisis, which make them think to reduce the usage of energy. There are two ways to do this. One is reducing the usage of energy, the second one is finding alternative source for energy. Many studies have said that buildings conserve energy. The design of an energy efficient sustainable building is complex part for every architect. To conserve energy every architect should come up with a climate responsive building in order to conserve energy in buildings.

One of the major problems we are facing today is the energy crisis. Both developed and developing countries face this problem nowadays. This energy crisis has also depleted the environment. This results in global warming. The energy consumption in the developing countries is more than the developed countries. Even though the energy consumption in developed country is more than the developing country, developing countries suffer in energy crisis due to the fast growth rate. Thus, many studies have concluded that within 2025 to 2030, many countries will suffer from greater energy crisis. So, we are in a important era to conserve energy. There are many ways to conserve energy. One of the attributes is energy efficient buildings which can be easily achieved by making it as climatically responsive. Few techniques can be included while designing any building. Passive cooling techniques can be achieved once the exterior of the building is responsive to climate. The basic things to be considered while planning a building are

• • House enclosed with verandah
  • Courtyard house
  • Solar radiation reduction techniques
  • Dual courtyard (double courtyard)
  • Evaporative cooling
  • Deep courtyard

• Interior of the building is mainly affected by people and appliances mainly used for cooking, bathing etc. Direct sunlight, heat radiation through walls and roofs should be reduced.

  FEW DESIGN ALTERATIONS FOR PREVENTION OF HEAT GAIN SOLAR HEAT REDUCTION

  The incident solar radiation on a building is one of the major causes of solar heat. To minimize this is to minimise incident solar radiation, proper orientation of the building with respect to site and climatic factors, perfect layout as neighbourhood buildings, proper shading devices to cool the building. Shading devices in a good design help to save 10-20% of energy. If the outdoor temperature is more than the indoor temperature, heat enters inside the building which needs to be reduced. Sealing of unwanted windows in wrong facing can prevent heating.

  BUILDING ORIENTATION

  A building’s roof gets more heat than the east and west facing wall. Then comes the north wall finally the south wall in a summer period. To avoid this building should be faced with longer walls facing north south and shorter walls to east west. So that shorter walls will get less heat radiation.

  LANDSCAPES AND TREES

  Shading the surroundings of building with landscapes and trees will reduce the heat radiation. The heat radiation stored by the plants will be used in the process of
  photosynthesis. Solar heat will be stored in the leaves of the plant. Best place to provide trees should be decided after founding out which window allow more sunshine in the afternoon in a hottest month. More than half the amount of total heat radiation will be on the east and west wall when compared with the north and south wall. The placement of trees will be an avenue along the centre of the windows in the east and west walls. Along the south wall, annually leaf shedding trees can be kept.

  HOT WIND REDUCTION

  Hot winds in hot and dry climatic conditions are the major heat radiation for a building. A shelter from winds can be provided by taking the existing topography and placing avenue of trees along the windows to filter the heat from the wind. Nowadays, world is moving towards energy efficient construction techniques to conserve energy. Design considerations may reduce the energy usage for some extent. Climatically responsive buildings are one of the largest means to conserve energy. Maintaining micro climate in and around the building is also a major part in design. There are many new ideas to design a climate responsive building. Many architects are coming up with a new technique to conserve energy usage in a building. Many techniques are not used in India. Considering about to conserve energy may lead to many other new ideas. Since the demand for energy increases, people have to come up with new technologies to conserve energy. Climate responsive buildings may be a source in conserving the energy need in any building which in order may reduce the energy crisis of the future.

  REFERENCES: 

• • Climatic responsive architecture – A design handbook foe energy efficient buildings
    Authors – Arvind Krishnan, Nick Baker, Simos Yannas, SV Szokolay
  • Building, climate, Energy – T.A.Markus
  • Climatic responsive energy efficient passive techniques in design – Dr.Anupama Sharma
  • Energy efficient building design towards climatic responsive architecture – steffen lehman
  • Energy conservation in buildings – Samar Thapa