What can termites and dogs teach us about energy-efficient cooling?

In hot countries like Singapore, cooling takes up the lion's share of energy usage in houses and buildings.

At our biomimicry kids invention camp on 16 & 17 July, we brought 4 children aged 9 - 12 years old out to Kent Ridge Park to learn from nature. Two of them chanced upon a termite mound and felt how solid and stable it was. It got them thinking... could we learn from termite mounds to redesign our buildings?

Soon enough, they had designed a building that emulated the termite's ventilation system, allowing hot air to vent upwards, and bringing in cool air at night. While this idea is not new, they added their own innovation to it. Thinking it will be very challenging to clean the air shafts, they added a suction fan at the bottom to periodically pull out any dust and debris in the air shafts. 

While I was really impressed by how they could anticipate and solve problems in the system, I was simply blown away by their prototype. It was a cross-section of their entire system, showing the inner workings and even the dust particles. 

Not to be outdone, the other team decided to tackle the problem of cooling too, but applied it to refrigeration and got inspiration from dogs! Recognising that dogs pant when they are hot, they designed a system to not only circulate air but makes use of the cooling effect of water evaporation to cool down the fridge. 

Once again, beyond the innovative application of biomimicry, their attention to detail for their prototype wowed me. It was amusing to see them make mini jars of milk, orange juice and even a plate of leftovers to put their fridge prototype. 

At the final pitch, I said to them, if I had a million dollars I would definitely invest in them to make their ideas a reality!

We'll be running more biomimicry invention camps in October, November and December. Do keep a look out on our socials! 

- Tan Yi Han, Co-trainer for Biomimicry Kids Invention Camp