Life existed in sync with natural resources of energy, in prehistoric era. As Napoleon said, 'men are moved by two levers: fear and self interest'. Hence in the journey for finding alternative for his needs, he started looking towards sun, wind and water and his immediate environment for his physical and psychological comfort.
Now a day, varieties of artificial means are being used for achieving the human thermal comfort, hence extensive usages of these means are having negative impact over the life cycle of natural environment. This forcefully intended us to adopt the concept of ‘Green Architecture and Sustainability’, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of buildings through energy efficient designs and healthy indoor environment for providing thermal comfort to the users.
Thermal comfort is defined in British Standard BS EN ISO 7730 as: that condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment.’ i.e the condition when someone is not feeling either too hot or too cold.
Today, the study and analysis of indigenous architecture can help in developing a workable model for ‘Green Architecture’. But for the development, it is necessary to study and analyze the models used for energy efficiency and thermal comfort in the glorious past of our ancient civilizations. As an example, Indus Valley Civilization is a good case where passive techniques have been extensively used for achieving the human thermal comfort and due to its successful past, it is very important to know the reason behind its existence for long period.
In this paper the climate responsiveness and appropriateness of passive techniques employed in the Harrappa and Mohanjo daro civilization, are analyzed in order to understand the indigenous responses to the issues of thermal comfort.
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April 2011 · Regional Research of Russia
The paper is devoted to a historical-geographic analysis of the ancient civilizations of India and China. The following is
discussed: the processes of the formation of geographic foci of civilizations, the expansion of their “living space” over
the course of long-term development, and the effect of a territory’s landscape structure on the growth of the economic basis
of civilization—agriculture,
... [Show full abstract] the role of the natural environment for the growth of spiritual culture, and the significane
of foreign relations and geographic scope. An attempt is made to clarify the reasons for the stability of ancient traditions
and the lag of civilizations behind global scientific, technical, and economic progress in the new age.
Keywordsancient civilizations–Great historical rivers–the Ganges–ancient China Read more April 2006
One of the things which make this globe a distinctive planet in this universe is continuous availability of water, a vital prerequisite for existence of life. Ever since man appeared on the surface of this earth he must have understood the importance of water as is apparent from the fact that all the ancient civilizations known to history and archaeology thrived on the banks of rivers. Water is
... [Show full abstract] also the essential prerequisite of agriculture, the source of food needed for the survival of life as without it there can hardly be any cultivation. Thus life on earth is wholly and solely dependent on water. By and large Mother Nature has not failed so far in providing an assured replenishment of water supply to living beings on earth. But the rapidly changing patterns of man's lifestyle and various other constraints of modern civilizations have made inroads in our natural resources. It now appears that an assured supply of this precious commodity of 'Nature' can no more be taken for granted. Since science and technology have not yet advanced enough to 'create' or 'manipulate' these natural resources, finding means for wiser, more prudent and sparing utilization of available water is the only course that can be followed to avoid future calamity. This article seeks to survey the ancient texts in Sanskrit dealing with agriculture, which have recorded useful information on the knowledge base and perception of harvesting and conservation of water, and precautionary means and measures adopted by the ancient Indian agriculturists to ensure continued water supply. Read more May 2017 · Green Energy and Technology
Any activity around the world as well as further development of humankind relies on natural resources. The primary deposits, which represent the work that nature offers us, are essential for current and future civilizations. There are several examples of ancient civilizations that collapsed due to the depletion of local natural resources; the most significant include depletion of the forests in
... [Show full abstract] Easter Islands, the depletion of fresh water in Central America or the depletion of the agricultural areas in South-East Asia [1]. Nowadays, these examples should not be underestimated and a rational resource management should be enhanced. Read more January 2016
Ecological capacity, as a concept of volume, can be understood either in absolute terms or in relative terms. The green transition of China, to a large extent, is not an active choice but a reactive response. The natural resource endowments of China are specific, and their spatial distributions are predetermined. Obviously, climate conditions directly influence the productivity of natural
... [Show full abstract] systems. Therefore, the so-called environmental carrying capacity is in fact a kind of climate capacity. The geographic distribution of Chinese population and economy is subject to the constraints of climate capacity geographic distribution. The Chinese proverbs “people are shaped by the natural environment around them” and “timely wind and rain bring good harvest” are descriptions about climate capacity and their great importance. The large-scale human migrations in Chinese history and the current “ecological migrants,” in many cases, are climate migrants because human activities exceeded the climate capacity or environmental carrying capacity of specific regions. Environmental carrying capacity is the basis and constraint condition for the transition toward ecological civilization. Respecting and accommodating nature mean the transition from the passive adaptation to the impacts of environmental constraints to the active adaptation of keeping human activities within environmental carrying capacity. Read more Conference Paper
Full-text available
April 2011
Human development as a whole depends on non-renewable resources which are on the verge of depletion. It is evident from the history that the in the traditional way of planning of yester years. When we are talking about sustainability, we say optimum use of natural resources like water, land, soil etc. which are limited. From ancient times we are using natural resources and considering its
... [Show full abstract] benefits while planning that may be at micro level or at macro level i.e. building planning or a city planning. A famous example of this is Indus valley civilization which is known as advanced civilization in terms of planning and technology amongst ancient civilizations. The growth of infrastructure paced up in recent times. This growth impacts on the environment. Hence, efficient planning and optimum use of natural resources is very important to reduce the environmental impact and hazards. Green building plays a major role reducing adverse effects of construction industry. After its debut in India about a decade ago green buildings have become a kind of 'de-facto' for architects and engineers. The practitioners of Green Buildings seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between structures and its surrounding natural and built environment. The appearance and style of such buildings can be nearly indistinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts. This paper discusses about green building concept, present scenario in India and how this concept of green building will help in achieving sustainable development. View full-text Last Updated: 05 Jul 2022
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