Ways to beat the heat by designing a cool house
Generally speaking, Thailand's climate all year around is more hot than cold, and the average temperature has a tendency to increase every year. Thus the only way to live comfortably with a low energy bill is to cool your house, and that starts from its v
The first step is to design the environment of the house by taking the following steps.
1 Cover the base structure of the ground floor with plastic to guard against accumulated humidity from the soil, which could overload the air-conditioners inside your house.
2 Ventilation outlets should be designed to enable air to flow out through the roof easily. For example, the outlets should be positioned at the roof’s gable or at the lath of the roof’s eaves, but netting should be installed to keep birds and insect from laying eggs under the roof, and rain from penetrating the ventilation outlets.
3 Concrete should not have direct exposure to the sun, that is, towards the south and west, because it will absorb the heat and increase the house temperature accordingly.
4 Fences must be open because a dense fence would block the wind from flowing to the house. Fence materials such as red bricks and concrete blocks have properties that absorb the heat during the daytime and yield it at night.
5 Grow trees around the house to shade it against direct exposure to sunlight. But big trees are not encouraged because their roots could damage the structure of the house. In limited space, one can grow ivy along the balcony or fences to intercept heat before it passes through the house and also reduce the force of sunlight on the building’s surface.
The second step is design and layout.
1 Position the house right. One should avoid exposing the house to the south and west, from where sunlight comes almost all day. Thailand receives the sun’s heat from the south for eight or nine months a year. If such positioning is unavoidable, use shade trees to protect against the sun. At the same time, positioning of the house and the ventilation outlets should take into account wind direction.
2 Use natural light to save power. Position the house so that it can invite natural light into the house to reduce the use of electric lights. The north is the direction that is least exposed to heat but has stable light all day. So it is recommended to face the room that needs light towards the north.
3 The wind should flow in and out of the doors and windows to release heat from the house. To position the windows, one must look at the direction of the wind movement. The position of each window in the room must be diagonal to direct the wind to flow through the room as you wish.
4 The kitchen should not be connected to the main house because the kitchen has many electrical appliances that can quickly transfer heat to the surrounding space. If it is unavoidable, the kitchen should be equipped with a good ventilation system.
5 Plan furniture layout well in advance so you can detect in the early stage barriers to the wind. Power outlets and switches should be numerous enough to support electrical-appliance use as well as being convenient. One should separate heat-generating appliances from refrigerators and boiling pots.
6 The bathroom must have sunlight. It should be positioned where light reaches it for hygienic purpose and to reduce the accumulation of humidity. It should also have enough ventilation outlets to release humidity.
7 Air-conditioned rooms should not have wells, fountains, waterfalls, fish tanks or flower vases because the air-conditioners will consume a lot of power to reduce the temperature and humidity, thus causing a high energy bill.
You see, it’s not difficult at all to cool your house. Let’s do it now so we can live a more comfortable life.
