• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta June 29, 2022
London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty June 29, 2022
G7 Miss ‘Golden Opportunity’, Walk Back Pledge to Cut International Fossil Finance June 29, 2022
Soaring Fertilizer Prices Could Deliver ‘Silver Lining’ For Emissions, But Farmers Struggle to Limit Use June 26, 2022
BREAKING: UN Nature Summit, the ‘Paris Conference for Biodiversity’, Moves to Montreal in December June 19, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Climate News Network

Termites show humans how to keep their cool

April 2, 2019
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Paul Brown

A termite mound in Namibia: Packed with lessons for human architects. Image: By Lothar Herzog from Kassel

A termite mound in Namibia: Packed with lessons for human architects. Image: By Lothar Herzog from Kassel

 

Scientists are studying the architectural skills developed by termites so we can keep cool, dry and well-ventilated in tall buildings without using fossil fuels.

LONDON, 2 April, 2019 − When humans were still living in caves termites were constructing tower blocks and tackling the difficult problems of keeping cool and dry in an adverse climate.

Now that humans, in a warming world, have the task of keeping skyscrapers comfortable and well-ventilated without the use of fossil fuels, scientists are turning to termites for advice. It appears that their architectural skills will help us solve our climate problems.

Termites live in colonies numbering thousands in inhospitable terrain in towers up to seven metres high. Inside the blocks is a complex social system of kings, queens, soldiers and worker ants living in a system of tunnels and passages, all self-ventilating, self-cooling and self-draining.

“There is a lot more to learn from Mother Nature when it comes to solving even the most important 21st century problems”

Using three-dimensional X-ray images, a group of engineers, biologists, chemists and mathematicians report in the journal Science Advances that they studied the mounds, as they are known, and found the secret lay in small holes or pores in the walls of the termite nests.

A network of smaller and larger pores helped an exchange of carbon dioxide from inside the nest to the outside. The ability of the pores to do this changed depending on the wind-speed outside, with the smaller pores sometimes taking over from the larger ones to keep the ventilation efficient. They worked regardless of the weather outside.

Lead author Dr Kamaljit Singh, from Imperial College London’s department of earth science & engineering,  said: “Termite nests are a unique example of architectural perfection by insects.

No mechanical aids

“The way they’re designed offers fascinating self-sustaining temperature- and ventilation-controlling properties throughout the year without using any mechanical or electronic appliances.”

The nests are usually found in hotter regions and the ones studied came from two West African countries, Senegal and Guinea. In the climate of these countries the mounds must be kept cool for the termites to survive. The pores also played a crucial role in this, the larger ones filling with air and reducing the heat entering the nest, a bit like the air in a double-glazed window can keep heat inside.

Remarkably the pores also had a role when it rained. Instead of getting blocked by rainwater and ruining the system the smaller pores, using capillary action, drained the larger ones, enabling the ventilation system to keep functioning.

Energy-efficiency too?

Dr Singh said: “Not only do these remarkable structures self-ventilate and regulate their own temperatures – they also have inbuilt drainage systems.”

The scientists say the newly found architecture within termite nests could help us improve ventilation, temperature control, and drainage systems in buildings – and hopefully make them more energy-efficient.

One co-author, Professor Pierre Degond from Imperial’s Department of Mathematics, said: “The findings greatly improve our understanding of how architectural design can help control ventilation, heat regulation, and drainage of structures – maybe even in human dwellings.

Nature knows best

“They also provide a new direction for future research, and will eventually bring us one step closer to understanding mechanisms that could be useful in designing energy-efficient self-sustaining buildings.”

Another of those involved in the project, Dr Bagus Muljadi from the University of Nottingham, said: “We know that nature holds the secrets to survival. To unlock them, we need to encourage global, interdisciplinary research.

“This study shows that there is a lot more to learn from Mother Nature when it comes to solving even the most important 21st century problems.” − Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

stux / Pixabay
Air & Marine

Big Seven European Airlines Lag on Reducing Sky-High Emissions: Report

June 13, 2022
74
Ars Electronica/flickr
Solar

Unique ‘Smartflower’ Microgrid to Power Saskatchewan High School

June 13, 2022
151
http://midwestenergynews.com/2013/10/24/as-pipeline-concerns-mount-a-renewed-focus-on-the-great-lakes-enbridge-mackinac-line-5/
Pipelines / Rail Transport

Line 5 Closure Brings Negligible Rise in Gas Prices, Enbridge Consultant Finds

June 10, 2022
204

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

David/flickr

U.S. Supreme Court Expected to Gut Emission Controls as Climate Scientists Petition for Plan B

June 26, 2022
1.1k
Keith Hirsche

Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta

June 29, 2022
119
Number 10/flickr

G7 Miss ‘Golden Opportunity’, Walk Back Pledge to Cut International Fossil Finance

June 29, 2022
75
London Eye UK England

London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

June 29, 2022
57
Konrad Summers/Kern West Oil Museum via Wikimedia Commons

Imperial Oil Backs Lithium Recovery Project in Alberta’s Leduc Oilfield

June 26, 2022
227
François GOGLINS/wikimedia commons

Corrosion Problem Shutters Half of France’s Nuclear Reactors

June 29, 2022
53

Recent Posts

AJEL / Pixabay

Windfall Tax on Food, Fossil, Pharma Giants Would Raise $490B to Solve ‘Catastrophic’ Food Crisis: Oxfam

June 29, 2022
26
futureatlas.com/flickr

Ottawa Demands Deeper Fuel Emissions Cuts, Offers Fossils a Double-Dip on Tax Breaks

June 29, 2022
37
Province of B.C./flickr

Comox Joins Municipalities Seeking Ban on New Gas Stations

June 29, 2022
24
Danielle Scott/flickr

Advocate Urges Ottawa to Intervene Before Ontario Builds Highway 413

June 29, 2022
45
/Piqsels

Refocus Agriculture Spending to Cut Emissions, Boost Productivity, OECD Urges Governments

June 29, 2022
14
Jimmy Emerson, DVM/flickr

Public Vigilance Key to Protecting Greenbelts for Climate Resilience, Report Finds

June 29, 2022
17
Next Post

Coal Plants in West Balkans Only Survive with Subsidies

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}