https://reasonstobecheerful.world/khus-vetiver-cooling-india/
"During the scorching summers in Bharuch, a city on India’s west coast, Anjali
Choudhary’s drawing room on the ground floor became unbearably hot. With no air
conditioning and temperatures surging to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, it was
difficult even to sit in the room, she says. Then, last summer, Choudhary came
across a special type of curtain, made of dried roots of vetiver grass,
commonly known as
khus.
Vetiver (
Chrysopogon zizanioides) is a tall bunchgrass that grows abundantly
in India. Its exceptionally dense root system can extend up to six feet deep in
six months, making it an excellent solution to soil erosion. Out of the soil,
the dried gnarled roots provide a whole new service: cooling.
Woven khus curtains or screens are typically hung in doorways or windows and
sprayed with water. As hot air passes through the damp screen, it undergoes
evaporative cooling, significantly reducing indoor temperatures. The khus
curtains Choudhary bought online came with a purple cloth border. She hung two
of them on the concrete awning of her drawing room window, at a slight angle,
and sprayed them with water throughout the day.
Generations of South Asians made curtains and mats out of these unassuming
roots, incorporated them in refreshing beverages and extracted essential oils
from them to beat the heat. But as rising temperatures and rising incomes made
mechanical cooling more common, khus began to disappear from homes. Now,
experts say this low-cost, low-tech cooling solution is worth revisiting as
India grapples with extreme heat driven by climate change — and exacerbated by
air conditioning.
“The great irony of air conditioning is that it heats the planet,” says Sylvia
Houghteling, an art historian at Bryn Mawr College specializing in South Asia
who has written about the cooling history of khus. While simple fixes like khus
can never fully replace ACs, she says, “these modes of cooling that aren’t
simultaneously emitting carbon [and] burning energy to produce, I think are
really important.”
For Choudhary, the khus curtains have made a real difference. “After putting
[up] the khus curtains, the temperature is somewhat regulated, we can now
easily comfortably sit,” she says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
