Smart window materials for automatic climate control of buildings
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Science & Technology
- Published
29th May, 2021
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Context
- Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati have developed a smart window material for automatic climate control of buildings.
About the material
- There has been increased attention to sustainable architectural designs for better light and heat management in buildings in recent years and smart windows is the one among such structures.
- It will support to green building initiative and GRIHA.
- Characteristics: The designed Smart window material can effectively control the amount of heat and light that passes through it in response to an applied voltage.
- It will dynamically adjust the amount of light and heat radiation entering a building in response to external stimuli, thus conserving the building’s energy.
- The design of smart windows is tuneable for all-weather conditions.
- Features: Smart window ‘glasses’ were designed by using noble metals as well as their relatively inexpensive alternatives.
- An electro-tuneable glass was used.
- It is made of two ultra-thin metal layers sandwiching an electro-optic polymer whose refractive index can be changed by applying a small voltage, which allows filtering of visible and infrared radiation.
- Optical response of these types of smart glasses is critically linked to the surface smoothness and other physical properties of the layers.
- Significance: It would help to develope efficient automatic climate control.
- It also gives a solution to the COVID-19 pandemic that has risk of cross-infections through aerosols transmission in public buildings such as healthcare centres, offices, transportation systems, workshops, laboratories and food storage facilities, where central air-conditioning systems are in use.
- Smart windows can provide an alternative solution for maintaining ambient indoor temperature and lighting inside a building or a vehicle by integrating those with usual glass windows or walls, thereby reducing the need of air-conditioning systems.
Green Building Initiative
- It is dedicated to improve building performance and reducing climate impacts.
- PM Awaas Yojnaa - Housing for All has also taken this into consideration.
Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)
- The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
- It was formed in the year 2001.
- The vision of the council is, "To enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025"
GRIHA
- It is the national rating system for green buildings in India.
- GRIHA is an acronym for Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment.
- It evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle, thereby providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’.
Some of the benefits of a green design to a building owner, user, and the society as a whole are as follows:
- Reduced energy consumption without sacrificing the comfort levels
- Reduced destruction of natural areas, habitats, and biodiversity, and reduced soil loss from erosion etc.
- Reduced air and water pollution (with direct health benefits)
- Reduced water consumption
- Limited waste generation due to recycling and reuse
- Reduced pollution loads
- Increased user productivity
- Enhanced image and marketability
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