Passive Cooling Performance of a Solar Chimney and Vertical Landscape Applications in Indonesian Terraced House

Abstract

Natural ventilation has been promoted as passive indoor cooling technique in hot humid tropical region. However for a single sided window in a typical deep plan terrace house, the effect of natural ventilation is questionable. It is worst when coupled with the fact that available wind in Malang is almost static and unreliable. This paper presents alternative passive technologies integrated to existing terrace house in the city of Malang to achieve indoor cooling assisted by solar chimney and green vertical landscape. A field measurement was conducted using Onset Hobo Data Logger for a specific duration. The solar chimney is installed inside the house harnessing the thermal stack effect of hot air buoyancy that naturally forced the cyclic air movement letting hot air out and bringing in cooler air. The vertical green landscape installed just outside the front window provide shade and filter the incoming air providing cooler and cleaner air. The result showed that the average indoor temperature is within the acceptable comfort range for the whole day. This is considered a significant achievement where the use of solar chimney and green vertical landscape can improve indoor thermal condition thus provide alternative for natural cooling, reduce energy use and healthy environment.