I am referring to prospective homeowner like Cecilio E. Rahon, Jr. an OFW who wrote me while he was onboard M/V Georgios S of Bright Maritime Corporation asking for assistance. Quoting in part his e-mail ," Your position as dean of the college of architecture is quite formidable parang nakakahiya yatang magtanong but you sound very friendly on the radio".
Let me explain this. Second MateCecilio Rahon is a listener to KAYAMOBATO-ONLINE, a weekly 30 minute radio program simulcast over three Voice of America (VOA) shortwave bands: 11.730 mhz/11.890 mhz/15.190mhz using the facilities of Radio Pilipinas OFW station and heard every Saturday morning by our kabayan dollar earners in the Middle East, some parts of India and South East Asia, some parts of Europe and United States.
Cecilio was onboard their ship docked at Johor Port,Malaysia leaving for Amsterdam when he sent his e-mail to my address, rlpunzalan@yahoo.com.
The letter continues," Do you know any website or person that I can ask regarding building an energy efficient house? What are the things to consider? I am totally clueless and I need information. I bought a lot in Laoag City and there is where I plan to build it." The letter ended explaining that he will still be onboard for a month and that he will send me an e-mail for more information about his request for assistance as soon as he gets to an internet shop at his port of destination.
A status report on the request of Cecilio Rahon:
1. This blogger and KAYAMOBATO-ONLINE program host has aired over the radio program, both on the OFW program and a local program ( a 1- hour Kaya Mo Ba To? radio broadcast over DZRM AM 1278 khz, 2-3 pm every Sunday also produced and hosted by me) that I have a good news for our kabayan Cecilio.
I announced several times that, "considering your very good intentions of building an energy efficient house to be typical need and of far-reaching significance to all homeowners in the country, the United Architects of the Philippines, through its Green Architecture Movement has accepted the challenge to provide assistance to Cecilio in designing your house according to your wish of having it energy-efficient. This blog spot and the radio program will run a series of informative segment, among other regular segments , featuring the progress of actions being undertaken in response to Cecilio's request and to deal with it as a work-in -progress. Cecilio by now must have started monitoring the progress.
2. Cecilio, I want you to understand that there are several ways of materialising your concept of an energy-efficient house. A basic design approach in constructing an energy- efficient house is described as follows:
BUILDING ENVELOPE ( Kabalutan ng Bahay o Gusali)
Ang init ng araw ay pumapasok at lumilisan sa kabahayan sa pamamagitan ng bubong, pader, mga bintana, at sahig o kasahigan. Ang lahat na naturang elemento ay tinatawag na building envelope. Ang Envelope Design o Disenyo ng Kabalutan ng bahay o gusali ay ang kabuuan ng hugis ng bahay at sangkap na materiales ay ang kabuuang sistema upang magdulot ng maginhawang pakiramdam sa mga naninirahan at makatipid sa enerhiya.
GENERAL BUILDING PRINCIPLES ( Mga Panuntunan sa Desenyo ng Bahay )
Ibaba ang init sa loob ng bahay sa araw(daytime) sa pamamagitan ng wastong envelope design.
Ang kabuuang desenyo ay dapat makapag-palamig sa temperatura sa loob ng bahay sa pamamagitan ng maaliwalas na daloy ng malamig na hangin na buhat sa labas .
Ang mga elemento ng passive cooling (Fig.A and Fig.B) ay ang sumusunod:
- Ang natural na bentilasion ay mangyayari kung maiiwasan ang mga sagabal sa pagpasok ng
sariwang hangin galing sa labas.
- Wastong dami at sukat ng bintana
- Wastong uri ng bubungan
- Wastong gamit ng insulasyon sa bubong at dingding at pader ng bahay
- Wastong pag-plano ng lugar para sa pang-araw na gawain at pang-gabing mahimbing na pag- tulog
- Pag-gamit ng wastong kulay para sa bubong. (Light colors are recommended for roof and
walls to reflect more solar radiation and reduce heat gain.)
- Pag-gamit ng bentilador ( electric fan o ceiling fan) sa panahon na walang natural na daloy ng
hangin o breeze.
Fig.A Design of unobstructed ventilation path
Fig.B Detail of Roof Vent/SkylightWe shall print in the next blogspots the progress of Cecilio Rahon's energy-efficient house as I receive the design output from the UAP Green Architecture Movement. You know Cecilio I have even challenged our senior architecture students in the College of Architecture of the University of Pangasinan to conduct research work on the subject design problem.
This year, Architecture Week is celebrated on December 3 to 10. I would like to think that by our action ( I refer to all Pilipino architects ) of reaching out to other kababayan homeowners and even in partial compliance to render professional service without expecting renumeration from a prospective kabayan homeowner like Cecilio Rahon, Jr. who was very honest in asking assistance (he admitted he was clueless) for the design of his energy efficient house, all Pinoy architects will look at every week of the year as an opportunity to celebrate the significance of Architecture Week.
