An Idea Whose Time Has Come Again

 


In the Middle East the locals have been living with extreme heat for millennia.  The Persians are credited with an idea proven to cool buildings.  The best part is they require no power source to work. They're called Wind Catchers. They're the vertical structures perched atop these buildings in the desert city of Yadz in today's Iran.


As a wind catcher requires no electricity to power it, it is both a cost-efficient and green form of cooling. With conventional mechanical air conditioning already accounting for a fifth of total electricity consumption globally, ancient alternatives like the wind catcher are becoming an increasingly appealing option.

There are two main forces that drive the air through and down into the structures: the incoming wind and the change in buoyancy of air depending on temperature – with warmer air tending to rise above cooler, denser air. First, as air is caught by the opening of a wind catcher, it is funneled down to the dwelling below, depositing any sand or debris at the foot of the tower. Then the air flows throughout the interior of the building, sometimes over subterranean pools of water for further cooling. Eventually, warmed air will rise and leave the building through another tower or opening, aided by the pressure within the building.

The shape of the tower, alongside factors like the layout of the house, the direction the tower is facing, how many openings it has, its configuration of fixed internal blades, canals and height are all finely tuned to improve the tower's ability to draw wind down into the dwellings below.

Hot air rises. As cooler air is drawn down into the building the existing hot air rises and escapes through an opening  that may use the wind to draw the hot air out.


Wind catchers have been installed on some 7,000 buildings in the UK including the Royal Chelsea Hospital shown above. 

No electricity. No dangerous refrigerants. Somewhat cooler, fresh air to flush out hot, stale air. 

For cooling, this is not central air.  Far from it. Those who are after climate control probably won't be interested.  However it works and it's inexpensive.

Comments

  1. the salamanderAugust 15, 2021 at 6:54 AM

    .. Back in the day .. I was 12 and Harrowsmith magazine arrived monthly. There was pretty cool ideas & editorial. I really dug into solar & housing design.. and tactics, strategies. People were utilizing the natural temperature of the earth, year round & below the local frost line. Built into sidehills perfectly aligned to the sun's arc, growing herbs, radishes & carrots etc on 'the roof'. The walls might be blocks of recycled styrafoam pellets. Most had radiant fireplace/stoves sucking & combusting firewood with cold and fresh air from the roof. An flexible solar overhang that could heat water and deflect overwhelming sun's rays

    Yeah .. a patio out front or the one on the 'roof'. The idea too was to find a spot near or on a lake with a workable sidehill. The waters would be protected of course, unless you were Stephen Harper, on gaining a majority

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibAugust 18, 2021 at 11:23 AM

      My grandparents houses had root cellars. Inside would be bags of carrots, potatoes and onions and shelves loaded with canned preserves. I can't think of the last time I saw a house with a root cellar.

      Delete
  2. Northern PoVAugust 15, 2021 at 7:45 AM

    A friend moved to rural Thailand and built a traditional Thai house. No air-con needed, like the traditional designs above.
    https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/advanced/203644/virtues-of-the-traditional-thai-house

    Both of these low-tech/low-energy designs seem to preclude high-rise towers. I wonder how they would 'scale', as the venture capitalists like to say?

    Re Salamander's comment:
    That Harrowsmith was touting "combusting firewood" "Back in the day", just shows us that we all need to keep an open mind for new data/information.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibAugust 18, 2021 at 11:32 AM

      It's a rudimentary approach, Owen, but it works subject, perhaps, to the occasional cobra or pit viper. Thanks to fossil energy we don't need any of that nonsense. We get "climate control."

      I use natural cooling in my house in the form of casement windows. On really hot days I close the windows and draw the blinds, sealing the place. Then, as the sun goes down, I throw open the windows, raise the blinds and let the Pacific breezes flush out the heat overnight. Even during the Heat Dome #s 1 and 2, my place was rarely uncomfortably hot.

      Delete
  3. Owen GrayAugust 15, 2021 at 8:07 AM

    An old idea -- which is suddenly very modern. Seems to me there's a message there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. TrailblazerAugust 15, 2021 at 5:01 PM

    If it cannot be digitised or sold by subscription it will fail.
    Wonderful idea tho!

    TB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibAugust 18, 2021 at 11:34 AM

      I hope it doesn't fail, TB. Natural cooling isn't a perfect answer but it sure helps.

      Delete
  5. The Disaffected LibAugust 18, 2021 at 11:20 AM

    I lived for several months on Rarotonga. The Cooks had their own iteration of the Church of England. There was a terrific church constructed of pink corral. It had a huge steeple or what I thought was a steeple.

    A local family invited me to join them at their church on Sunday morning. It came as a surprise to find the Book of Common Prayer and the hymnal were in Maori. The biggest surprise was how cool it was inside. The "steeple" was in fact a tall wind catcher that constantly extracted hot air allowing the church to be flushed with fresh onshore breezes from the adjacent waterfront.

    ReplyDelete

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