When a green architect does a particularly good job, you'll know it by the bling: the silver, gold, and platinum LEED certifications that emblazon buildings' exteriors. But the best eco-conscious constructions don't need a seal of approval—and their builders probably wouldn't appreciate it anyway. Mound termites, native to Africa, South Asia, and Australia, are pros at building self-regulating structures that maintain oxygen levels, temperature, and humidity. And now human architects and engineers want to adapt that ingenuity for their own designs.
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How does the mound dissipate air through its network of holes? As the sun moves through the sky during the day, the air in the thinner chimneys on the outer edges of the mound heat up quickly, while the air in the mound's big, central chimney stays relatively cool. Hot air rises up through the outer chimneys and cool air in the central chimney sinks, circulating air continuously—injecting oxygen and flushing out carbon dioxide. At night, the flow reverses as the outer chimney air cools down quicker than the inner chimney air.Mimicking termites' strategies, architects and engineers can drastically improve energy efficiency in buildings. Take Mick Pearce, a Zimbabwean architect who designed the award-winning Eastgate Center in Harare, Zimbabwe. Similar to termite mounds, the concrete outer walls of Eastgate are porous. As wind blows through the tunnels on a hot day, the concrete sucks up the heat, cooling the wind before it whooshes into the shopping center. Fans flush the heat out of the concrete at night so it will be ready to store more heat the next day. Following termites' lead, Pearce cut energy use down to about 10 percent of a normal building that size.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday November 19 2015, @05:10PM
Are you an ex-pat Rhodesian? I find the case of Rhodesia fascinating. I've read "Scribbling the Cat." Having grown up in the Rockies, next to the Idaho panhandle with its white supremacist culture, I have a very strong negative association with Aryan anything. But the case of Rhodesia makes me question my certainties.
It's Off-Topic for this post, certainly, but it does make me wonder if Weber wasn't right when he posited "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism."
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by aclarke on Thursday November 19 2015, @05:40PM
No I'm not, but I grew up in Zambia so we had reason to visit Zimbabwe on occasion.
The whole situation in Zimbabwe is complex and very messed up, but I can say that anyone with a Hitler moustache probably shouldn't be allowed to run a country.