"Energy used to heat and cool buildings in China produces vast amounts of CO2 emissions, Dunster says, and Changsha, in landlocked central China, is a particularly harsh environment. In the summer, daytime temperatures are in the high 30s and staggering humidity levels make air- conditioning 'almost a human right'."
For the Chinese market, Dunster has adapted his trademark ventilation system, the wind cowls that draw fresh air into his super-insulated buildings, by injecting a saline solution to take the humidity out of the air, and small amounts of solar-powered electricity to cool it. He is in the process of commercialising the technology with a large Chinese company and wants to show the Chinese that clever design to harness the power of wind and sun, combined with small amounts of renewable energy, can reduce CO2 emissions to nearly zero.
'The biggest strategy is to reduce the electricity they need,' he says. 'We can give them high-performance architecture that designs out the need to invest in coal-fired power stations to sort out their cooling loads.'
