Training on "Cooling in cities through passive potential and innovative cooling systems"

The sustainable habitat team of CSE conducted atraining on “Cooling in cities through passive potential and innovative cooling systems”. The training was conducted from July26^th to July28^th, 2023, and was attended by 22 participants comprising government officials.

On the first day of the training, Mr. Rajneesh Sareen began the session by giving a broad overview of climate change as a big picture to the participants, encouraging them to apprehend the detrimental effectsof climatic change on cities in the present and the future. The subsequent session by Mr. Sugeet Grover, Dr. Nimish Gupta and Ms. Mitashi Singh comprehensively discussed the drivers of heat gains, reductions, sources and sinks. This was followed by a presentation by Ms. Mitashi Singh, who informed the audience aboutvarious initiatives and policy levers in India, which encompass cities to advance their ability to adapt and/or develop measures to mitigatethe effects ofclimate change. The day concluded with Mr. Rajneesh elaborating on how new design approaches and traditional principles could be integrated to provide the most sustainable and climate-resilient habitats.

The second day began with Dr. Nimish Gupta explaining the background of Urban Heat Island, itscausative agents, and the threat it poses to the residents. For better understanding, he demonstrated the instruments used for capturing Land Surface Temperature (provides information on the intensity of urban heat islands), and presented the findings of CSE’s case study conducted on-site in Kolkata, which detailed how various drivers combinedly play a significant role in urban heat gains.Thereafter, Mr. Sugeet explained to the participants about designing involved in various climatic zones to enhance human thermal comfortability. He conceptualised this via psychometric chart, an explanation of solar path and dry bulb temperature. The day concluded with Mr. Sugeet detailing the attendees about building envelopes and thermal properties of materials, which included parameters such as window-to-wall ratio, insulation, and thermal mass. He also informed about the Eco Niwas Samhita. He presented several examples and initiated constructive discussions throughout the sessions, which contributedtobetter learning and understanding.

On the final day, Mr. Sugeetexplained how utilising district/low carbon cooling systems may maximise the passive potential. The session provided a deeper understanding and added value via explanation of several case studies.After that, the participants engaged in a group activity, wherein they were split into groups and were guided to hypothetically consider buildings in different climatic zones. Furthermore, they were instructed to discuss and suggest various passive and nature-based cooling techniques for a better thermal environment within the assigned building.The training concluded with the groups presenting their findings and inferences based on the knowledge gained during the entirety of the course. The final presentations by the participants resulted in a healthy debate and discussions.