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