Published Paper Details:

Traditional architects in India created a sophisticated system of passive cooling and heating that was developed empirically over hundreds of years before the discovery of mechanical cooling. Without the use of any energy source, traditional building methods throughout the five climatic regions of India produced indoor air temperatures at least 5 to 18 degrees Celsius cooler than outdoor air temperatures by incorporating the following four thermodynamic processes: (i) thermal mass and time delay from the use of thick earthen and stone masonry walls; (ii) buoyancy-driven (stack effect) ventilation through deep courtyards; (iii) evaporative cooling from water bodies and vetiver screens; and (iv) ideal solar insulation from overhanging chajjas (awnings) and through perforated jaali (lattice) screens. This literature interprets each of these strategies using the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics and Fourier, Newton and Stefan-Boltzmann heat transfer principles, along with quantitative field data gathered from measurements taken in various locations.