Enlarge / A part of the system of reticulated tunnels (egress advanced) of a mound of Macrotermes michaelseni termites from Namibia. (credit score: D. Andréen)
The mounds that sure species of termites construct above their nests have lengthy been thought-about to be a type of built-in pure local weather management—an strategy that has intrigued architects and engineers eager to design greener, extra energy-efficient buildings mimicking these rules. There have been many years of analysis dedicated to modeling simply how these nests perform. A brand new paper revealed within the journal Frontiers in Supplies provides new proof favoring an integrated-system mannequin by which the mound, the nest, and its tunnels perform collectively very like a lung.
Maybe essentially the most well-known instance of the affect of termite mounds in structure is the Eastgate Constructing in Harare, Zimbabwe. It’s the nation’s largest industrial and purchasing advanced, and but it makes use of lower than 10 p.c of the vitality consumed by a traditional constructing of its dimension as a result of there isn’t a central air-con and solely a minimal heating system. Architect Mick Pearce famously primarily based his design within the 1990s on the cooling and heating rules used within the area’s termite mounds, which function fungus farms for the termites. Fungus is their major meals supply.
Circumstances must be good for the fungus to flourish. So the termites should preserve a continuing temperature of 87° F in an atmosphere the place the out of doors temperatures vary from 35° F at evening to 104° F through the day. Biologists have lengthy steered that they do that by setting up a collection of heating and cooling vents all through their mounds, which may be opened and closed through the day to maintain the temperature inside fixed. The Eastgate Constructing depends on the same system of well-placed vents and photo voltaic panels.
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