Earth Tube Heat Exchangers for Environmental Control of Farm Buildings in Semi-arid Northwest India

Abstract

A large part of Gujarat in the North-west region of India is semi-arid. The lands are less suited for agriculture. Animal husbandry is therefore common. Productivity of cattle is however also low due to problems of feed and due to climatic stresses, specially heat. Environmental control of farm buildings - animal houses, greenhouses- in semi-arid areas is a special challenge. There is widespread shortage of water; rural grid is prone to interruptions several times a day. Cattle owners do not give importance to animal comfort as a means to improve productivity. The HVAC industry and professionals have not made efforts to develop systems compatible with the region’s environment and economics of farming. Towards that, the earth-tube-heat-exchanger based systems appear to be more suited for farm sector in semi-arid climatic conditions. We present the experience of using such systems for environmental control in dwellings of zoo animals, and greenhouse in arid area of Kutch. Mention has also been made of the ongoing work to install more such systems in the dairy cattle housing.