| Focus = newable Enersy PASSIVE SOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING DESIGNS ncient societies all over the globe were dependent on solar energy for heating and cooling of their dwellings, to create indoor comfort to the extent possible. They had achieved this with locally ovailable materials and a broad understanding of the climate of the region. However with the advent of industrial development and advances made in science and technology, and avcilability of cheap commercial fuel energy, buildings are heated and cooled by artificial mechanical and electrical means, to provide Thermal Comfort, Water heating and Lighting. The oil crisis of 1970's made every country, developed and developing fo realise that conventional fossil fuel reserves of the world are depleting at €an alarming rate and iti time to look seriously for non-conventional alternate sources of energy for sustaining the economic progress. Solar energy applications in buildings have been explored in various countries and found promising Use of solar energy in the housing sector is mainly concentrated on domestic water heating, space heating, space cooling, cooking food, doy-lighting, pool heating, distillation, cond dyeing Several solar devices were developed and marketed in many countries, including India. Active, passive and mixed (hybrid) modes of solar strategies, are commonly adopted for solar heating and cooling buildings. * Formerly Professcr of Buing Science, National Universi of Shgapore IREDA NEWS Passive solar heating and cooling of buildings seems to be cost effective, when appropriate techniques suited fo the regional regional and micro climate of the place and site are chosen. Climate conscious and energy efficient designs should supplement the passive solar designs. In this presentotion a review of passive cooling design concepts is made. Issues involved and sirategies for promoting passive solar buildings in Andhra Pradesh, are discussed. ‘A CASE FOR PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGNS Passive solar designs are simple ond of greater reliability, lower costs, cand longer system life times. Passive systems when effectively designed, would perform effortlessly and quietly, with out mechanical and electrical ossistance. They do not require special construction skills and much can be accomplished using locally available common building and insulating materials. The additional financial investment may range from nil to 10 percent. Passive solar systems save fuel bills for the house owner and the nation: SOLAR CONTROL To minimize the exposure of wall cond window areas of the building, fo the direct solar radiation by shading them isthe basic approach of solar control. By treating the KR. Rao* exposed wall and roof surfaces with white, off-white, or light colour surface finishes, as much as 60 to 70 percent of solar energy can be rejected. However shading of windows is far more important as unshaded clear window glasses, when exposed to direct solar radiation, transmit more than 85 percent. Once the sunlight hits the window gloss, half the cooling battle is lost. South facing windows admit less sun in summer than in winter and it is also easy to shade them with overhangs. East and west window glasses are difficult to shade with overhangs alone. Vertical fins are the best means of shading such glasses. We all know that the sun path varies during the day from season to season and from place to place. Fortunately solar gemoetry is well established. Once the latitude of « place is known, the sun angles with respect to horizontal, vertical and sloping surfaces of any orientation con be calculated or graphically determined with solar chart and shadow angle protractor, for any hour of the day and any day of the year. Shading effects of trees and adjacent buildings con also be determined by solar gemoetry. Operable internal shades, shutters, and curtains and the use of special glasses such as heat reflecting, heal absorbing and low emissivity types would provide some solar control but reduce daylight. 53WINTER CONDITION @) ‘SUMER CONDITION @ Fig. 1 Working principles of solar chirmey & 2 Root edaton map Heat Gain Control Heat gain control through building envelope is equally important. This can be achieved by paying more attention to the thermal characteristics of roof, wall ond window sections, namely thermal mass and. insulation values. Their relative importance depends on the climate of the place. Fixed or permonent insulation, though reduces day time heat gain, it prevents cooling during night times. To overcome this disadvantage the concept of movable insulation has been introduced. Roof ponds ‘and water walls (which increase thermal mass) in combination with movable insulation have proved very effective in doy time heat goin control and also promoting night hect losses. VENTILATIVE COOLING Natural Ventilation Ventilative cooling has @ dual role to play. Firstly to promote human comfort directly and secondly to cool the structure. Air movement across the human body couses a cooling sensation because it enhances the removal of body heat by convection ‘and by evaporation of perspiration. Natural ventilation is provided by simply opening of windows and doors. In warm humid climatic conditions cooling effect of his simple concept of natural ventilation should not be underestimated. Natural ventilation can be manipulated by land plonning, building shape, ond proper orientation taking prevailing wind directions into use of radiant barriers in the ceiling spaces and low emissivity wallpapers like thermo decors would reduce thermal radiation exchange between internal wall and ceiling surfaces, with human body, by 60 to 70 percent. EVAPORATIVE COOLING In hot dry climate evaporative cooling concept works very well. This ‘works on the principle, when moisture changes from liquid to vapor stete, the sensible heat, required (for the adiabatic process of cooling), is extracted from the evaporating surface cand thus its surface temperature falls. The rate of evaporation and hence the drop in surface temperature depends, on how low is the humidity in the atmosphere, and the air velocity across the surface. Experimental studies were made cn three roof cooling methods, namely Roof Pond with movable insulation, IREDA NEWSroof sproy and roof covered with a wet pad, on a concrete roof base, at CBRI Roorkee. It is shown that on a typical summer day in the month of May, the ceiling temperature wos maintained in a narrow range of 30°C (max) and 24°C (min) for these evaporative cooled roofs. While the bar untreated concrete roof temperatures were 45°C (max) ond 27°C (min). Of the three methods the wet pad treatment performed slightly better. EARTH COOLING The diurnal and seasonal variations of soil temperatures deep down with the depth a stable temperature occurs ct a depth of 6 to 8 meters. The annual overage temperature at these depths varies world over, depending upon the rate region. In tropical climates like India, it may range from 21°C to 27°C, Since the ground below is cooler thon the ambient air in the summer months, the more a house is in contact with the ground, the cooler it wil be, To ‘oblain easy ground contact, the house ccan be built below the ground or one can also partially berm the earth around the house, high levels of comfort can be obtained in a well designed underground housing and basements, EARTH TUBES AND PIPES Earth tubes and pipes are used to cool the ventilating air. Plastic, clay or ‘metal pipes ranging 10 to 30 cm, in diameter and lengths of 15 to 60 meters are buried 1 to 2 meters below the earth. Outside air is drawn through the pipes ether naturally or with a fan, into the house. In hot dry climates the air is cooled and in humid climate moisture condenses out of the air on inside surface of the tubes. The pipes are sloped slightly outward away from the house. Considerable research is being done in this area of earth cooling. O S> Tuner | REE REE EARTH ASSORBS HEAT SRR Fig. 2: Eath Ai Cooing Tunnel LIST OF A FEW BUILDING USING SOLAR PASSIVE TECHNIQUES Nalional Media Centre University Hostel Kapur Solor Farm Indio International Centre S.No] Nome of the project [Location 1. | Tapasya block (Aurobindo Ashram) [New Dethi 2. [Trainees hostel for Lodokh Ecological Development Group Leh 3. Residence (Owner : Mrs. Mohini Mullick) Bhowali (oeer Neinitel) 4. ‘Water and Land Management Insil Bhopal 5. [I Hostel Block New Delhi 6. | Solar Eneray Cente | Gwalpahori é : | Gurgoon 7. [NE Offs bulking ‘Mumbai a 8 10. Feo Hove 13, S08 hides loge [14] Sangath E Ahmadabod 15. Hotel Tsemo-La Leh ‘| 16. Solar House i Baroda 17. | Chinher Guest Hause Lucknow 18. | MGIREP = New Delhi} [19.. | Tisue, Culture Pict Pin, The Energy Research Insite | Gwalpchari Gurgeh 20 [iia Tate for Heath Management and Research Taiput 21. | Himachol Pradesh Sci. Co-operative Bank Bulking Shirl a Government Hospital = 2 Khaneri, H.P. Shimla 23__| MLA Hostel IREDA NEWS 55