Barrie Harmsworth, Owner, Green Energy Solutions

Dubai, UAE, 25 February 2019: “A natural ventilation system with a low cost of installation is sustainable,” said Barrie Harmsworth, Owner, Green Energy Solutions, while elaborating on the first-of-its-kind static ventilation system. “Static-type ventilators have been around for many years, and ancient culture has used them with good effect,” he said, referring to the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, in Tamil Nadu, India, as an example.

Industrial buildings, however, are not temples, and very few have bothered to advance the principles to lightweight roof ventilators. “The earliest of the rotating type are the Savonius type from the 1920s, used mainly on moving vehicles,” Harmsworth said. The current rotating type, he added, is a misguided interpretation of the Savonius wind turbine. “The main reason for the head to rotate is to keep the rain out,” he said. “Our research showed that it was the Bernoulli Effect – the principle of Daniel Bernoulli discovered in 1738, which produced the low pressure in the wake zone,” he said. “The low pressure enhances the natural flow of the hot humid air out of the ventilating unit and the rain can be kept out by clever architecture.” Pointing to the Hurricane Plus, the company’s new more efficient ventilator, he added, “It has taken much to come up with the technology, inventing prototypes, testing and a long expensive procedure, but, in the end, it’s been worth it.”

Elaborating on the advantage of having a natural ventilation system, Harmsworth said, that wherever conditions need to be controlled without air conditioning, ventilation is the only option. He added: “The fact that it is low-cost means that consultants might not be interested in ventilation systems. Consequently, there is much demand for engineers, and the few who are interested are as rare as hen’s teeth.”