More shady trees will help keep buildings cool

THE EDITOR, Madam:

In The Sunday Gleaner, a story headlined ‘Furnaces!’ referred to the state of the classrooms in the upcoming school term. I thought, back when I was in high school in the 1970s, that it was so hot that I couldn’t think straight sometimes. Particularly after midday. Nowadays, with higher temperatures, I’m glad I’m not in school. I see that Chris Whyms-Stone recommending that ceilings be raised to at least 14 feet in height, as they did in the old days. What was learnt from experience over centuries is new again!

The cutting down of trees over low-ceiling buildings, supposedly for preventing damage from hurricanes, makes buildings hotter than necessary.

An interesting experiment was reported in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, where temperatures regularly spike over 40 degrees Celsius. (page 11, New Scientist magazine, June 10, 2023) . There, a mirrored film was placed over what we call zinc roofs. This dropped the temperature of the zinc sheet by as much as 15 degrees Celsius. It would be useful if it is allowed.

We could also place trellises with lightweight growing vines rooted in planter boxes over load-bearing walls to shade the roofs, or on sturdier roofs grow vegetation on top. I note that Whyms-Stone did not mention these.

School administrators, from what I can see of schoolyards I go past, seem to love pavements of concrete or asphalt for ease of maintenance, for ‘security’, and to control erosion. This is a counterproductive solution. The more shade trees, the better. Even better, a fruit tree, as my prep school had. What is better than to have a mouth-puckering tamarind in the shade? Or maybe a refreshing, juicy, sweet carambola?

As far as these multi-storey buildings going up all around us, Whyms-Stone should have mentioned that architects overseas are designing with virtual forests growing on sides of buildings to reduce the AC cooling loads. None of that is happening here. Concrete mentality, if you ask me. What about cooling towers, as used in the Middle East?

HOWARD CHIN

Member, Jamaica Institution of Engineers, PE