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At the clip of penning this (for the timestamp-obsessed: the day of June 11), the prima has been served a memorandum of suspension for its obnoxious behaviour successful the past fewer days. An overcast entity has ensured the fiery orb stays retired of work. Clearly a reprieve from what was an unusually harsh opening to June, mostly known arsenic the pre-monsoon play adjacent successful the sun’s long-held fiefdom, Chennai. Just arsenic a lioness would woody an overly exuberant cub a astonishment paw swipe, the joyousness could beryllium short-lived for the Chennai people. Put it down to clime change, the upwind has the vacillating caput of a Hamlet, and truthful it tin beryllium blistery again earlier you cognize it. And it mightiness not beryllium excessively precocious inactive to “insulate” your location with cost-effective, heat-reducing accepted props. In immoderate case, the benefits would transportation implicit to the adjacent summertime and the ones beyond.
Here is simply a cherrypicked solution, 1 lying nether one’s feet. It is curtains made of vetiver (chrysopogan zizanioides), an aromatic perennial writer autochthonal to India that comes with an aerial of reverence, its fragrant roots occupying the beforehand enactment successful pujas. Off the spiritual altar, it is patronised for its cooling properties. When woven into curtains, vetiver comes into its own. A proposal not to beryllium ignored: vetiver curtains (also known as khus curtains) tin beryllium teamed with bamboo curtains for sum of greater aboveground area, factoring successful cost, the erstwhile taking a somewhat oversized wound retired of the wallet, and maintenance, the erstwhile again being the hard one.
Why these nature-based solutions, NbS arsenic they telephone them? This poser needs to beryllium enactment to those who marque a livelihood retired of making these curtains. Enter S. Jagadeeshwaran and Nagarajan, who on with their teams, enactment by the roadside successful Alwarpet and Adyar respectively, ironically soaking up the prima to assistance radical enactment shielded from it.
With immoderate assistance, a vetiver curtain tin chopped retired the vigor to immoderate extent. Jagadeeshwaran explains that sprinkling astir fractional a litre of h2o connected the vetiver screens each greeting and evening helps support a chill atmosphere, portion the moist roots merchandise a earthy earthy aroma. “Vetiver stands retired not conscionable for its cooling properties but besides for its herbal and medicinal benefits,” says Jagadeeshwaran, proprietor of the family-run Jagadeeshwaran Bamboo Works connected TTK Road. Jagadeeshwaran makes vetiver curtains too.
With a beingness span of astir 2 years and costing astir ₹200 per quadrate foot, vetiver curtains, says Jagadeeshwaran, tin beryllium an state successful keeping the prima successful check. Let america not hoodwink ourselves into the outrageous, adjacent hare-brained thought that vetiver or for that substance bamboo tin regenerate technology-based cooling systems (aka fans and air-conditioners).
Along with sustainable plan of the house, these earthy curtains tin trim the usage of aerial conditioners, thereby resulting successful savings connected the powerfulness bill. But the location has to beryllium prepared for them. They would fare amended successful a location with a generous proviso for cross-ventilation. They bash not truthful overmuch chill a abstraction arsenic support unwanted worldly specified arsenic excessively overmuch sunlight and pollutants retired of it. Having said that, the water-sprinkled vetiver curtains bash bring successful a whiff of chill air, but lone truthful much.
Their environmentally affable quality should beryllium a beardown inducement to brace them with tech-based cooling solutions.
‘Building plan cardinal to effectiveness of bamboo and vetiver curtains’
Architect and co-founder of Design Co Lab, Pavithra Sriram explains erstwhile these accepted curtains, which she clubs among “materials that breathe”, tin beryllium effective: “The curtain strategy itself, whether it is simply a vetiver curtain oregon a bamboo curtain, is the past measurement of this full spectrum. You are looking astatine a gathering that has to beryllium designed successful specified a mode that determination is transverse ventilation. Unless you bash that, your reliance connected air-conditioners is not going to stop. One vetiver curtain successful an highly developer-built flat that lacks cross-ventilation cannot abruptly marque for Ooty climate. The full gathering needs to respond to the section context. It is important not to look astatine these things arsenic topical, band-aid solutions. They request to beryllium understood arsenic portion of a holistic approach. The full gathering situation has to enactment together. When that happens, elements specified arsenic bamboo curtains, vetiver screens and different accepted materials tin play a meaningful relation successful improving comfortableness and reducing dependence connected mechanical cooling systems.”
Bamboo versus vetiver
rNagarajan, a shaper of bamboo arsenic good arsenic vetiver curtains successful Adyar (near the Aavin parlour park) is simply a believer successful vetiver curtains, but tends to bat longer for bamboo curtains. From a plan perspective, bamboo curtains basal out. With those roots, vetiver curtains tin lucifer the wrong of an angler’s worm box. In contrast, the neat lines of the bamboo strips, horizontal, vertical oregon cross-stitched, marque the curtains aesthetically much pleasing.
“Available successful a scope of colours and finishes, bamboo curtains tin complement antithetic architectural styles portion helping little indoor temperatures” Nagarajan adds. Then, the outgo equation. Nagarajan notes bamboo is besides the much economical option, costing astir ₹100 per quadrate foot, against the terms of ₹200 per quadrate foot vetiver curtains travel at. He adds that bamboo products are peculiarly fashionable among resorts, hotels and homeowners looking to harvester functionality with ocular appeal, whereas vetiver curtains are predominantly preferred by idiosyncratic households seeking a accepted cooling solution. With energy tariffs ever connected the emergence and heatwaves becoming much stinging, Chennai residents should not disregard these accepted options. Beyond being money-wise, this would signify a instrumentality to a sustainable signifier that was erstwhile the norm, and present takes an nonfiction specified arsenic this to punctual ourselves of their continuing relevance.
S. Jagadeeshwaran tin beryllium contacted astatine 9841565239/ 9003183916 and Nagarajan astatine 9941538328.
