A developing economy and a predominantly hot climate means increased demand for new buildings as well as for air conditioning. In India, about 70% of the buildings required by 2030 are yet to be built. The share of room air conditioners in total electricity consumption will increase from 7% in 2016 to 26% by 2050. How can this demand be met in a sustainable manner?.
The way forward is to find viable and scalable cooling solutions that provide comfort without contributing to climate change.
Low energy solutions such as structure cooling present a viable solution for providing comfort using significantly less energy and even holding the potential to meet that requirement through renewable.
In this technique, the temperature of walls and floor is kept at a temperature lower than the body temperature of the occupants. Thus the skin will lose heat to the cooler surroundings by radiation. This approach is different from air-based systems where the thermal mass of the structure is used to an advantage and hence it can retain the “coolth” for a longer time compared to cooling air which has very low thermal capacity.
