Energy Schemes

The intent that buildings are supposed to protect us from the elements juxtaposed with the fact that residents of high-rises throughout the Northeast US and Canada have been sweltering precisely because their homes or offices are designed to operate, with huge consumption of energy, on the principle of canned, conditioned air strikes me as the height of irony. Especially because we

WASTE SO DAMN MUCH OF IT.

While offering little consolation to those who are suffering through circumstances I know to be disruptive at best and deadly at worst, there are better solutions. From where do they come? You’d be surprised.

Now, Africa is paying an offbeat tribute to these ugly towers of bug-holed mud. Harare's newest office complex is said to be the only one in the world to use the same cooling and heating principles as the termite mound. That's no mean feat. Termite mounds are marvels of engineering. Deep inside, the insects farm a fungus, their only food. It must be kept at exactly 87 degrees, while the temperatures on the African veld outside range from 35 degrees at night to 104 degrees during the day. They do it by venting breezes in at the base of the mound, down into chambers cooled by wet mud carried up from water tables far below, and up through a flue to the peak. Toiling with the tireless, compulsive work ethic of all ants, they constantly dig new vents and plug old ones to regulate the temperature.

Now before anybody offers comments (below) that the article further down states “you couldn’t do this in New York” and tenants are quoted as saying “ it can be stuffy at times” so Froz Gobo must be some off-the-deep-end enviro-wacko that worships trees (I don’t…exactly) and thinks children ought to run around naked (mine does, however) might I state that this is the first time to my knowledge anyone tried to model a 33-storey office building on a termite mound. Give biomimicry and greenbuilding a break. New (however low) technologies are experimental. I would guess that the first time a human being tried to cross a creek with an ingeniously positioned log, she probably got wet.

Around here they’re known more for destroying structures than building them, but researching this post this evening, I came across one , two and three particularly cool links with different foci about termites. Read if you’re into that sort of thing.