«We can make our homes cooler with this design»
Zig-zag patterns on walls can help cool overheated buildings, a new study has found. Architectural zig-zag designs can limit the amount of heat absorbed by buildings and released back into space.
The study suggests that applying zigzag patterns to the walls of buildings could help in cooling overheated buildings.
Buildings currently account for around 40% of global energy consumption, accounting for more than a third of global carbon emissions, The Guardian reports.
A significant portion of this energy comes from air conditioning, which scientists expect to double by 2050 if left unchecked.
As the planet continues to warm, the demand for cooling in buildings continues to rise.
In response to this growing problem, scientists are exploring passive cooling solutions that do not rely on energy consumption.
A research team led by Qilong Cheng of Columbia University in New York has developed a promising solution that could help reduce energy consumption by redirecting solar energy away from buildings.
Cheng's team has come up with a zigzag wall design that can reduce the surface temperature of a building by up to 3°C compared to flat walls without consuming any energy.
«With this design, we can make the building cooler,» Cheng says. «This way, we can reduce the energy consumption for cooling.»
The design consists of walls with a series of protrusions that form a zigzag shape when viewed from the side.
The design takes advantage of radiative cooling, a passive cooling technology that reflects sunlight and emits long-wave infrared radiation through the Earth's atmosphere into space.
Radiative cooling has gained attention over the past decade as an energy-efficient way to reduce cooling needs, The Guardian reports.
Common strategies, such as painting roofs white to reflect sunlight, have been effective for horizontal surfaces but are less ideal for vertical walls, which also absorb heat from the ground.
The zigzag wall design addresses these issues by creating surfaces that radiate heat through the atmosphere's transparency window and reflect infrared radiation rather than absorb it.
While this innovative cooling method holds promise for hotter climates, it could increase heating needs in colder regions during the winter.
To address this issue, Cheng and his colleagues proposed an adaptive design with hinged «fins» that can be raised in the winter to increase heat absorption and lower it in summer to reduce it.