Strategies and Solutions from Vernacular Architecture to Sustainability • Technical and constructive strategies and solution
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Fig. 7-8-9 Contemporary house house by Architect Bartolomeu Costa Cabral, in Beja, Alentejo, Portugal (photo: F. Gomes).
out the building’s life cycle, are amongst the most required energy efficient features in contemporary buildings’ design. High-tech and energy efficiency promise buildings that are still far from achieving the performance required in order to face the challenges related to climatic change today (Shao, 2010). Within this context, a growing interest in the sustainability value held by vernacular architecture arises, particularly in its approach to dwellings. Linked to it is the argument according to which models, principles and strategies in vernacular architecture could provide valuable tools for addressing sustainable issues in contemporary architecture. According to several authors, by inheriting its key-elements, the existing social, environmental and cultural global crises could be overcome (Fathy, 1986; Asquith and Vellinga, 2006; Oliver, 2006; Bouchain, 2010; Hall, 2010). The strategy that is revealed in this chapter is among the wide range of vernacular strategies one could learn from. Based on all its previously mentioned mechanisms, one of the beneficial contributions of high thermal inertia to environmental and economic sustainability consists of its efficient behaviour in regulating indoor temperature fluctuation and subsequent indoor thermal stability, with little or no extra conventional energy consumption (Neila-González and Bedoya Frutos, 2001; Schroeder, 2012; Shao, 2010; Araújo and Almeida, 2006; Hall et al., 2012; Goulart, 2004). In addition, the improvement of the indoor thermal comfort of build-
ings can represent a significant impact in terms of its life cycle energy analysis and energy cost savings. This is due to the fact that a significant part of the energy consumption of the building is linked to providing indoor hygrothermal comfort, and that the strategy of thermal inertia allows the reduction of operational energy over its life span and its consumption peaks (Ramesh et al., 2010; Pasupathy et al., 2008; Araújo and Almeida, 2006). Finally, high thermal inertia has a valuable environmental input, feeding as it does on a renewable solar energy, and thus assisting the reduction of resource depletion, as well as the diminishing of environmental pollution from energy production and energy waste. Nowadays, the energy efficiency and CO2 emission goals of buildings, actually match the premises on which vernacular architecture is based upon. The fact that energy is an increasingly critical theme in our society, due to its excessive consumption, highlights the importance of incorporating lessons from vernacular strategies, such as those from thermal inertia. Considering the impact in hygrothermal comfort and in energy savings, thermal inertia remains one of the most vital strategies for acting, in response to the pressing global matters of fossil fuel dependence and climate change impacts. The awareness related to this topic has been slowly increasing, through a significant boost of scientific research, along with a gradual integration of this strategy in contemporary dwellings, adding progress towards a more sustainable development.