Madhavi Indraganti

Thermal adaptation and insulation opportunities provided by different drapes of Indian saris

Women across South Asia wear the sari. It is a very versatile garment as not only does the fabric affect its thermal properties but also the way it is draped over the body can significantly modify its clothing insulation. We tested three Indian sari ensembles (each of four drapes) with a thermal manikin following ISO: 9920 protocols. The insulation values on all of the 16 selected body parts and over the whole body were recorded. These data provide the information needed for advanced thermal comfort modelling that requires clothing insulation values at the segmentation level. The apparently simple sari offered in reality a wide range of insulation values (0.94 to 0.62) for a given set of garments. Winter ensembles provided 1.11–1.39u2005clo, while the summer and monsoon ensembles had 0.62–0.96u2005clo. The findings of this research are more than a correction of clo value of saris, but highlight the potential significance of the garment in the process of adapting to higher temperatures in a warming world.

Drivers and barriers to occupant adaptation in offices in India

Occupant window-opening behaviour in Indian offices is a nascent field. This paper relies on the thermal comfort field study data from 28 Indian offices in Hyderabad and Chennai. Occupants in naturally ventilated buildings used the windows and doors adaptively as the seasons changed and the temperature varied. We found that 50% of the windows would be opened at an indoor air temperature of 30u2009°C, using logistic regression. We noted some non-thermal factors possibly affecting the adaptive operation of controls as well, including: design and construction, operation and maintenance, environmental, sociocultural, attitudinal and behavioural factors. A windows potential for modifying the comfort temperature hinges on the effective handling of these hurdles. We further categorized the barriers into those in the occupants realm and beyond. Each category is further identified with the extent to which the barrier interferes with the control as an adaptive opportunity.

User satisfaction and energy use behavior in offices in Qatar

The occupant behavior significantly contributes to the total energy use in buildings and its understanding is greatly needed in energy analysis/simulation studies. Uncertainties about the occupant behavior adversely affect the building performance predictability of the simulation models. As field data in Qatar on occupant energy use and behavior was unavailable, we conducted an environmental satisfaction and energy use survey in the city of Doha, Qatar in seven office buildings. Building occupants were highly satisfied with their work environments with respect to most of the environmental parameters excepting acoustics. Access to operable controls such as windows, thermostats improved their satisfaction. Subjects in private offices were more satisfied with their work environments. We noted the self-declared productivity of respondents to be high in general. It was significantly higher in offices with better occupant access to temperature controls. Noise level dissatisfaction was the highest in high partitioned cubicle offices and satisfaction was high in open plan offices. These findings provide vital design direction for new offices and environmental systems design and for managerial motivational campaigns. Practical application: Using field study data, we analyzed the occupant behavior and environmental satisfaction in offices in Doha, Qatar. The Middle East in general and Qatar in particular are known to consume enormous energy for buildings leaving a large ecological footprint. The finding of this study informs the designers of air-conditioning systems about the user behavioral patterns. Further, these findings help the building managers in designing targeted energy awareness/saving campaigns, as user motivation is vital in energy saving.

A method to estimate the heating and cooling degree-days for different climatic zones of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s energy consumption is increasing astronomically. Saudi Building Code prescribes a fixed base temperature of 18.3℃ to estimate the heating degree-days and cooling degree-days. Using historical meteorological data (2005–2014), this article presents the heating degree-days and cooling degree-days estimated for the representative cities in all the five inhabited climatic zones of Saudi Arabia. We used the base temperatures of 14℃, 16℃ and 18℃ for heating degree-days, and 18℃, 20℃, 22℃, 24℃ and 28℃ for cooling degree-days for Dhahran, Guriat, Jeddah, Khamis Mushait and Riyadh cities. We developed multiple regression models for heating degree-days and cooling degree-days at various base temperatures for these zones. Degree-days for other cities in similar climates with limited input data can be computed with these. Lowering of base temperature by 2u2009K from 18℃ reduced the heating degree-days by 33–65%. At 14℃ of base temperature, the heating requirement reduced by 60–95%. Elevating the base temperature by 2u2009K from 18℃ lowered the cooling degree-days by 16–38%. At 28℃ of base temperature cooling can be completely eliminated in Khamis Mushait, and reduced by 65–92% in other cities. This observation merits rethinking about use of appropriate base temperatures that properly link the outdoor environment to reduce the energy consumption. Practical application: Using historical data, we developed regression models for predicting heating and cooling degree-days for five cities of Saudi Arabia in various climate zones without the historic data. Using these, we can estimate the changes in heating/cooling load due to the variation in base temperatures. For example, lowering base temperature by 2–4u2009K from 18℃ reduces the HDDs by 33–95% and elevating the base temperature by 2–4u2009K from 18℃ lowered the CDDs by 16–68%.

Thermal Comfort in Indian Apartments

Socio-political and economic drivers can be historically traced behind the apartment’s evolutionary trajectory. Absence and poor adherence to norms appear to have caused thermal discomfort. It pushed occupants toward energy-intensive solutions. India needs to embrace the adaptive thermal comfort model to unburden her import-dependent energy balances. Occupant responses from real buildings underpin this model. This chapter focuses on the field studies in apartments. People in naturally ventilated apartments expressed comfort at 30.3 °C during the hot and warm-humid seasons. Thermal condition indoors varied adaptively with the outdoors. However, discomfort was high in summer. The subjects accustomed to air conditioners had lower comfort temperature. This cyclic path dependency works against India’s sustainability agenda.

Occupant Behavior in Indian Apartments

Occupant adaptation happens to be the key mechanism behind achieving thermal comfort in buildings. User’s thermal adaptation is under researched in India, although it is important to understand and limit the energy use in buildings. Relying on filed study data, this chapter looks at various methods of adaptation available and in use in apartments in India. Operating windows, doors, fans, air coolers, and air conditioners (AC) was noted to be robustly correlating with outdoor and indoor temperatures and thermal sensation. Their adaptive operation was limited by many non-thermal factors. People used traditional Indian attires for thermal comfort. These allowed occupants to adapt through changing the drape (and the insulation) within the same ensemble, when the indoor temperature moved outside the comfort range.

India: Bio-climatism in Vernacular Architecture

Human beings have a natural instinct for bio-climatic home building. Vernacular architecture potentially leverages on this ability while responding to the sociocultural and economic needs of a population. India is a peninsula with a long coastline. A predominantly warm country, India has about 80% of the land under composite and warm-humid climates. This chapter navigates through the bio-climatic vernacular architecture of various climatic zones of India, emphasizing the warm-humid zones. It also provides examples that imbibed the bio-climatic spirit in creating a modern vernacular.

Enquiry-based learning workshop for deep learning in Middle Eastern classrooms – an action research approach

Abstract The senior year design students and I were dismayed when my linear teaching and their habitual rote learning failed in a Middle Eastern University. The gulf between the curricular objectives and our teaching-learning methods intrigued me. I turned this into an action research project that sought to answer the questions, ‘What paradigm shift might we need to migrate from traditional rote learning to deep learning? What attitudinal change and philosophical beliefs would that call for in an instructor?’ The search for a solution metamorphosed me from a disengaged instructor into an empathizing reflecting practitioner. It led my students to active engagement in an enquiry-based learning workshop, which significantly improved their performance. This paper celebrates the journey of our collective deep learning. It explicates how I built my personal theory of teaching praxis through critical consciousness and meta reflection. This knowledge-creation process is empowering and may draw many teacher researchers towards meta-reflexive engagement with the social systems around. These change drivers can initiate institutional overhaul to effect systemic reforms.