REDUCING EFFECTS OF SUNSHINE ON A BUILDING FOR EFFECTIVE CONTROL OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND

Abstract

Building is essential to human beings for living and host of other activities. In other for a building to fulfill its primary function for providing shelter from the adverse environmental condition, its comfort in the thermal environment is of outmost importance: but a building consumes energy and other resources due to solar radiation from the sun which creates a soft of discomfort for its occupants thereby raising their body temperature beyond normal. The heat when accumulated in a building structure induces thermal stress and accelerates quite a number of deteriorating chemical processes of some materials that make up the building This paper therefore, addresses the problem of environmental management in a building by reducing the effect of sunshine in it. The research throws light into the appropriate selection of materials by assessing their comparative performance in terms of their thermal properties, insulation capacity and surface characteristics that can reasonably control solar radiation in order to maintain the thermal comfort of the occupants and improving their comfort level in the environment. It also emphasizes on the application of shading devices and explains how important is vegetative element such as trees, shrubs, flowers and ground cover help in environmental management.