Designing buildings for the hot West Australian climate

After one of the hottest summers on record it is worth consider how we might better adapt our building designs for houses, offices and factories to the fierce Western Australian heat. Termite mounds provide a great example of how insects engineer their living quarters to ensure survival in hot climates. giant-termite-mound

The typical termite mound must accommodate millions of inhabitants together with their fungus gardens. Termites cannot digest the cellulose from the wood that they collect so they use the wood as a food for fungus to grow on & then eat the fungus. These fungus gardens need a stable environment in which to grow and so constant humidity and temperature is a must.

Initially it was believed that termite mounds act as a giant chimney, filtering out the CO2 from the wasps & the fungus gardens. A typical mound needs to 'breathe' 1000 litres of fresh air per day. However, recent research has demonstrated that the real ventilation is driven through the walls of the termite mound which are porous. Termite mounds tap turbulence in the gusts of wind that hit them. A single breath of wind contains small eddies and currents that vary with speed & direction with different frequencies. As the range of frequencies changes from gust to gust, the boundary between the stale air in the nest and the fresh air from outside moves about within the mounds' walls, allowing the two bodies of air to be exchanged. In essence, the mound functions as a giant lung.

As termites do not need any electricity to run the heating, cooling and ventilation on their buildings, their designs are worth paying attention to, especially if we want to continue developing our civilization in Western Australia, one of the hottest driest spots on the planet.


Posted by: Andrew
Company: Noble & Associates
Phone: 61894007400
Posted On: 1/1/0001
Contact via email: andrew@nobleaccounting.com.au
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Categories: Climate Change
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Intelligent cities coming to Western Australia

Smart cities of the future are being built now. South Korea's Songdo and China's Meixi Lake exemplify the design features that will distinguish our Western Australian cities of the future. These new cities are nearing completion in what are multibillion dollar builds that incorporate intelligent infrastructure and eco vibes.

Songdo is a modern mega structure marvel built on what was once an expanse of mudflats.  Presently this new city that lies fifty kilometres south west of Seoul is forty percent complete. It is now dotted with more than one hundred high rise buildings including a 7,800-person apartment complex, a massive convention centre and a Sheraton hotel. Completion date for the city is set for 2014 with a final price tag of 35 billion US dollars making it the largest private real estate project in history.

Backers of the Songdo project include Morgan Stanley, Gale & the Korean steel maker Posco. All are betting that the city will become a trading hub linking Tokyo & Shanghai.

The city will conform to the U.S. Green Building Council's energy-efficient L.E.E.D standards; all buildings are incorporating special window glazing and ventilated double facades. Grey water and rain will be collected for irrigation and use in cooling towers. A network of underground pneumatic pipes will move solid waste, reducing the need for garbage trucks.

From a transportation perspective the city is already offering car sharing, water taxis, bike rentals and buses powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

An amazing 40% of the city space is allocated to greenery & vegetation including parklands & play areas.

Data networks developed & deployed by Cisco link every facet of the city including schools, stadiums, municipalities and the utility grid.

Cisco views Songdo as a model it can replicate around the world. It plans to build a global centre for "intelligent urbanization" and the replicate the solution in new cities as they are built.

We can certainly expect many of these intelligent city themes to find their way into new cities built in Western Australia.

 


Posted by: Andrew
Company: Noble & Associates
Phone: 61894007400
Posted On: 1/1/0001
Contact via email: andrew@nobleaccounting.com.au
Tags: , ,
Categories: Infrastructure
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