Review on Passive Building Strategies for Terai Region

Aarzoo Jha 1, Sushil B. Bajracharya 2

1
Student of MSEEB, Department of Architecture, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University
2
Department of Architecture, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
1 2
Corresponding Email: aoris0602@gmail.com, sushil_bajracharya@ioe.edu.np

Abstract:
Passive design responds to local climate and site conditions in order to maximize the comfort and health of building users while
minimizing energy use. The key to designing passive building is to take best advantage of the local climate. Increase in energy
consumption in a building is very high and energy crisis is a big issue. In the southern part of Nepal where weather is mostly hot
and humid during the year, cooling in building is very important. Consequently, the objective of designing a passive building is to
take best advantage of the local climate, to reduce the temperature of buildings without the need for power consumption, to test the
usefulness of applying selected passive cooling strategies to improve thermal performance of building to decrease cooling load, to
improve living conditions whilst mitigating, as far as possible, energy use and climate emissions. Different passive cooling
strategies like: thermal mass, building design, openings, shading devices, green roof and landscape have been investigated in this
study. The different articles were summarized, discussed , analysed and compared. After the comparisons the findings were found
and conclusion was made for effective design practice.The study revealed by upto 20% when a building uses passive cooling
strategies and the vernacular architecture practiced by inhabitants of Terai region is indirectly related to Passive design strategies.

Keywords:
Passive design, hot-humid climate, energy efficiency, bio-climatic chart

philosophies that can be practiced to lower energy

1 Introduction
Passive cooling uses free, renewable sources of energy
such as the sun and wind to provide cooling, ventilation
and lighting needs for a household . This additionally
removes the need to use mechanical cooling. It can also
reduce levels of energy use and environmental impacts.
Nepal is ranked 124th out of 135 countries in the world in
2011 for per capita of 382.64 kg and is ranked 173 out of
191 countries for CO2 emission at 0.14 metric tons per
capita in 2010. Mostly Nepal uses firewood for domestic
heating and cooling but electricity is the main source.
Nowadays, building is responsible for 40% of electricity
consumption, CO2 emission and waste generation
(Manandhar & Yoon, 2015).
The most important function of building is to provide
comfortable shelter with appropriate thermal and visual
indoor comfort making the building both a better and
more comfortable environment to live or work in.
Comfort level depends upon design in combination with
the outdoor climate. Either thermal comfort can be
maintained by design irrespective to climatic condition
or through artificial means.
consumption in building. It is better to have designs
which are independent of mechanical intervention for
comfort.
Interest in passive design for either heating or cooling
has grown recently as a part of a movement towards
sustainable architecture. There are many passive cooling
strategies that can be recommended for use in a hot and
humid climate such as Terai region.
2 Objectives
 To take best advantage of local climate.
 To reduce the temperature of building without
the need for power consumption.
 To improve thermal performance of building.
 To decrease cooling load.
 To improve living condition.
 To manipulate building materials in order to
decrease indoor temperature.
 To test usefulness of applying selected passive
cooling strategies.

Due to energy crisis in Nepal, sustainable design and

green building design are the foremost design

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3 Methodology
Reducing heat gain in buildings located in hot
climate is one of the most important approaches
to energy reduction. This research is based on a
literature review.

In a first step, the paper gives an overview of

the research focusing on aspects that are most
relevant such as: local materials and climate.

Secondly, climatic conditions are investigated

based on climate data from weather stations.
The study is made as per bioclimatic design
strategies for the climate using three tools:
Olgyay’s bioclimatic chart, Givoni’s Fig.1. Schematic of the adopted passive cooling design
psychrometric chart and Mahoney table. strategies.

In third step, the climate responsive design 4.3 Climate Analysis

strategies were determined.
Concluding, the study compares the design
strategies identified based on bioclimatic
approach with actually applied strategies.
4 Literature Review
4.1 Geography
Nepal’s territory expands about 800 km. east- west and
200 km north- south and displays a highly variying
topography. Altitude reaches from 65 m.a.s.l. (meters
above sea level) to 8848 m.a.s.l (meters above sea level)
where Terai is a lowland region in southern Nepal that
lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas. It lies
at an altitude of 0-1200m with the mean temperature of
15℃ in winter and more than 30℃ in summer. Thus
categorizing itself as a Sub- tropical zone (Bodach, Lang,
& Hamhaber, 2014).
A research project was conducted in Biratnagar. To
evaluate climate responsive building design strategies,
local climate data were collected and analyzed
(Manandhar & Yoon, 2015).
 Geographical co-ordinate : 26.48 N Latitude
and 87.26 E Longitude
 Temperature : 25℃ (i.e. March to October) to
more than 35℃ (i.e. April to June) during
summer
 Humidity: 45% during April. Temperature
increases from February to May. Less than 70%
throughout the year. This makes climate very
hot and humid.
 Sky condition: Clear for most of the year
except for rainy season (i.e. June to August).
Receives high solar radiation.
This clearly shows the requirement of cooling
during most of the year.

4.2 Building Materials

It is rich in fertile alluvial soil and dense Sal forest.
Therefore, materials such as: wood, thatch, biogenic
materials, mud and sand are locally available for the
construction (Bodach, Lang, & Hamhaber, 2014).
Properties of materials – color, insulation property,
assembly type. Building materials can be classified in
two categories i.e. visible and invisible which includes
internal and external finishes of the building.
Fig.2. Monthly Temperature and Relative
Humidity in Biratnagar

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 Fig.5. Recommended design strategies for each month
according to Mahoney Table
Fig.3. Monthly Solar radiation and Sky cover in
Source: (Bodach, Lang, & Hamhaber, 2014)
Biratnagar
Following design recommendations were identified by
using Olgyay’s bioclimatic chart and Mahoney table
(Bodach, Lang, & Hamhaber, 2014):

 Ventilation- Provision of air movement through

Fig4.. Heating and cooling degree days in
Biratnagar
4.3.1 Design Guidelines from Mahoney Table
Mahoney Tables are a compilation of reference tables for
measuring heat and cold indicators, wet and dry
conditions for each month using monthly temperature,
relative humidity, and precipitation.
cross or stack ventilation.
 Building form and orientation- Rectangular
floor plans with orientation of house should be
north and south (long axis east-west) to reduce
exposure to sun during summer.
 Roofs- Light well insulated roofs are
recommended.
 Passive heating is sufficient during winter
period.
 The protection from heavy monsoon rain is
required.
 Night ventilation for thermal comfort is
proposed.
 Settlement pattern- Should be loose than dense
along road or arranged around a courtyard so
that breezy window can flow through
settlement.
 Roof should have overhangs to protect walls
from direct sun radiation. Verandahs can be
formed by extending the roofs.

5 Analysis, Findings and Discussion

Passive design strategies for hot and humid climate of Nepal has been collected, summarized and compared,

Features Susanne Bodach (2014) Rashmi Manandhar (2015) Prativa Lamsal (2016)
Site Planning n.s. n.s. Water bodies at S-W
corner, Deciduous trees
at East and West.
Building Orientation East- West direction Long face oriented to East-West direction
North-South.
Opening size and Very small and few North window. Double 40% -80% of floor area,
location glaze or triple glaze but size maximum at North with

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 of window should be 57% cross ventilation
smaller.
Lintel height n.s. n.s. 8’ with ventilation
Building form Rectangular floor plan n.s. East-West elongated
Material and technology Wattle and daub, straw Wall made of 120mm Concrete hollow block
and mud, timber, mudbrick, 100mm or soil cement stabilized
bamboo. polyurethane insulation and block or brick wall with
15mm mud plaster. 8” cavity or slope roof
or flat roof with
insulation.
Shading device n.s. Overhang of about 2’5” for 2’-9”
projection 76o , 2’ for 79 o , 1’6” for 82
o
and 1’ for 85 o summer
solar attitude is required.
Building envelope, n.s. n.s. Light, wall texture,
texture and colour smooth finishing.
Flooring n.s. n.s. Marble, Tile
Floor height High n.s. 10’
Terrace garden n.s. n.s. Most
Natural ventilation n.s. Ventilation works better n.s.
with opposite facing
windows. Shaded North
and South window to cool
down outside air.

Table-1: Passive design strategies for hot and humid climate of Nepal
provided .Windows area should be 15
to 20 percent of floor area.
5.1. Findings Internal courtyard caters for cross
ventilation & thermal buffer. Suitable
radiation barriers in the form of
I. Orientation of building: Orientation canopies, Chajjas, long verandahs etc.
of building in this climatic zone should should be provided on the West side of
be such that non-habitat rooms should the building.
be located on outer faces to act as
thermal barrier. Longer walls of
building should face North & South so
that the building gets minimum solar
exposure.

III. Orientation of Walls: Thickness of

wall plays an important role in heat
insulation of building. Thicker and
painted outer walls are preferred as it
behaves as an insulating barrier. Walls
with light and shining paints on outer
surface have good reflective quality
II. Windows and Openings in and do not absorb heat. For good
Walls: Windows and large openings in thermal insulation cavity wall and wall
walls with heavy shutters should be with hollow blocks can be constructed

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 IV. Insulation of Roofs: Roofs should be
built up with good insulating material
having slope in windward direction
and which reflects the radiation and
does not absorb heat. False ceiling can
be used to improve thermal
performance of building.
V. Growing of Vegetation: Large shady
trees whose roots do not strain
foundation and basement should be
planted near external walls to provide
shade. Landscaping has the capacity to
reduce temperature up to 2.5℃.
Evergreen trees should be planted on
the basis of orientation for shading in
both summer and winter.
VI. Special Building Orientation
Requirements: Outdoor sleeping area
such as: verandahs for summer nights
preferably is provided.
6 Conclusion
From all three articles similar results were obtained
regarding the passive design strategies for buildings in
hot and humid climate.
 The heating energy requirement in Sub-
Tropical climate is very low as compared to the
cooling energy requirement.
 Main element of the building should either
block or reject solar heat gain and try to keep
the cool indoor temperature of the building.
 Buildings should be designed according to
climate.
 Most of the energy load in hot and humid
climate is due to mechanical systems.
Therefore, this load can be reduced by adding
elements such as: shading devices.
 The provision of proper openings for equal
distribution of fresh air.
 Eight passive cooling strategies were applied to
reduce heating energy and achieve optimal
thermal comfort.
 There is potential for reduction of cooling load
by 9% after applying passive cooling strategies.
 Total annual energy consumption could also be
reduced by 23.6% if building uses passive
design strategies.
7 Critical Analysis
After reviewing articles, we can conclude that the
passive design strategies is necessary for sustainable
architecture. Although, inhabitants of Terai region didn’t
have any specific knowledge regarding the effectiveness
of their designs of building, the methods that were
implemented by them to cool down the indoor
temperature for thermal comfort are found to be
effective. Therefore, renewable source of energy such as
: wind and sun should be prioritized instead of
mechanical means. And the buildings should be designed
as per climate.
Simple design techniques such as: shading devices,
glazing, landscape, courtyard, openings, orientations,
form of buildings etc plays major role.
Hence, it an economical yet effective measure to
consider during design approach.
References
Bodach, S., Lang, W., & Hamhaber, J. (2014). Climate
responsive building design strategies of vernacular
architecture in Nepal. Energy and Buildings 81, 227-
242.
Lamsal, P., & Bajracharya, B. S. (2016). Passive Solar
Building Design Strategies in Lalitpur, Pokhara and
Dharan cities of Nepal. Proceedings of IOE Graduate
Conference, 341-348.
Manandhar, R., & Yoon, J. (2015). A study on Passive Cooling
Strategies for Building in Hot Humid Region of
Nepal. KIEAE, 53-60.