The heatwaves this summer were unprecedented in South East Asia with temperatures touching an all time high of 52.3 degrees in Delhi. Part of the problem are residential buildings that are constructed with high thermal mass materials for longevity ignoring the energy or resilience aspect of performance. The concrete slab roofs sans insulation, soak up the heat and remain hot well into the night resulting in high cooling energy requirements, hot indoor environment and out of control urban heat islands. We are studying low cost interventions in high thermal mass residences of Global South that can help with improving the comfort as well as energy performance of these buildings without disrupting the traditional construction practices. I traveled to India for the experiments and the IR images show remarkable performance of the energy efficiency measures that are already a norm in the west such as cool roofs and radiant barriers. We are still working on quantifying the benefits of these interventions that will be published in the upcoming papers. But, if you decide to walk around on a cool roof on a hot, say 48 degrees and sunny day, make sure to wear protective glasses as it is not fun to, "walk in the air fryer!" Holly W. Samuelson Jyotirmay Mathur Soroush Ehsani-Yeganeh Harvard University Graduate School of Design The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University
Interesting. Which camera did you use for capturing those IR images ?
Thanks for your unwavering commitment, Mayuri! Well done.
Research Assistant at Harvard Graduate School of Design, MArch I Candidate at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Architectural Studies Alumnus at University of Toronto - John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture
2wVery exciting!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼