The Ancient Persian way to keep cool – BBC News

Fossil-fuel-free methods of cooling like the wind catcher might well be due a revival, but to a surprising extent they are already present albeit in a less magnificent form than those in Iran in many Western countries.

In the UK, some 7,000 variations of wind catchers were installed in public buildings between 1979 and 1994. They can be seen from buildings such as the Royal Chelsea Hospital in London, to supermarkets in Manchester.

These modernised wind catchers bear little resemblance to Iran's towering structures. On one three-storey building on a busy road in north London, small hot pink ventilation towers allow passive ventilation. Atop a shopping centre in Dartford, conical ventilation towers rotate to catch the breeze with the help of a rear wing that keeps the tower facing the prevailing wind.

The US too has adopted wind-catcher-inspired designs with enthusiasm. One such example is the visitor center at Zion National Park in southern Utah. The park sits in a high desert plateau, comparable to Yazd in climate and topography, and the use of passive cooling technologies including the wind catcher nearly eliminated the need for mechanical air-conditioning. Scientists have recorded a temperature difference of 16C (29F) between the outside and inside of the visitor centre, despite the many bodies regularly passing through.

There is further scope for the spread of the wind catcher, as the search for sustainable solutions to overheating continues. In Palermo, Sicily, researchers have found that the climate and prevailing wind conditions make it a ripe location for a version of the Iranian wind catcher. This October, meanwhile, the wind catcher is set to have a high-profile position at the World Expo fair in Dubai, as part of a network of conical buildings in the Austrian pavilion, where the Austrian architecture firm Querkraft has taken inspiration from the Arabic barjeel version of the wind tower.

While researchers such as Kheirkhah Sangdeh argue that the wind catcher has much more to give in cooling homes without fossil fuels, this ingenious technology has already migrated further around the world than you might think. Next time you see a tall vented tower on top of a supermarket, high-rise or school, look carefully you might just be looking at the legacy of the magnificent wind catchers of Iran.

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The Ancient Persian way to keep cool - BBC News