A new approach to the cooling of buildings across the developing world that needs nothing but wind and sun to operate has been devised by engineers in India. Writing in the International Journal of Sustainable Design, the team explains the concept of a combined solar chimney and wind tower system that can reduce the temperature by 5 degrees Celsius.

Jyotirmay Mathur of the Mechanical Engineering Department, at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology (Jaipur), together with architect and urban designer Rajeev Kathpalia of Vastu Shilpa Consultants (Ahmedabad), have designed a building that incorporates a multi-storey wind tower clad with heavy stone panels which produces an upward draft of air drawn into the building passively and cooled by the massive tonnage of the stone classing, reveals Scientificblogging.com. The air flows through the rooms and corridors and accumulates heat as it does so. This is then carried to the top of the building and vented with large black, thermally conducting, panels providing a way to shed the heat quickly from the top of the building.

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