Case-study /
Cool Roofing and Passive Ventilation in Indore, India
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Project overview
Indore used to be known for cool evenings, referred to as “Shab-e-Malwa”, even in hottest summers. Throughout the month of May daytime temperatures generally used to reach highs of around 40°C. At night the average minimum temperature used to drop down to around 25°C. In recent times the highest recorded temperature in May has been 48°C. The expansion of the city is resulting in increasing heat island effects. Further exacerbated by climate change, this is causing temperature extremes to become common events every summer over the last decade. The rise in temperature increases the discomfort level in working and living conditions leading to health problems such as stress, heat stroke, asthma, etc. The need for space cooling has increased and growing incomes and aspirations have resulted in air-conditioners replacing fans in most of the middle class houses. This trend is likely to grow over coming years, increasing the peak electricity demand at city level.
TARU Leading Edge is partnering with Indore Municipal Corporation to demonstrate Cool Roofing and Passive Ventilation (CRPV)options to increase thermal comfort of citizens, especially poor, during summers. Our aim is to improve the indoor thermal comfort level within buildings, with a focus on low-income housing, while avoiding an increase in peak electricity demand (associated with an increase in GHG emissions) associated with the growing use of fans and air conditioning units. This project is supported by ACCCRN (Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network).
The specific objectives of the project are to:
- Develop a suite of technology options suitable for a variety of houses ranging from slums to middle income households.
- Promote the cool roof concept on city/state scale so that energy saving also will be achieved.
- Develop mechanisms for promoting cool roof concept in new housing projects with special focus on poor housing programmes.
To achieve these objectives we are coordinating with city, state and national stakeholders to study, demonstrate, monitor the impact and suggest measures for policy interventions. Our stakeholders for this project include the Indore Municipal Corporation, Government Departments, Town Planners, National Institutions, Architects, Technical Experts and Community Based Organisations.
One of the main project activities is a competition to design a variety of cool roof and passive ventilation options to be demonstrated at sites across the city on a variety of buildings including public buildings, slum and low income houses. These demonstrations will be used to display energy saving and temperature information through equipment. The competition is currently underway (August 2013). For more information visit the project website.