THERMAL VALUE OF MATERIALS

http://ecospecifier.com.au/knowledge-green/technical-guides/technical-guide-4-thermal-mass-its-role-in-building-comfort-and-energy-efficiency.aspx

Thermal Mass & its Role in Building Comfort and Energy Efficiency

D. Baggs: Technical Director, Ecospecifier

Material	Density (Kg/m3)	Specific heat (kJ/kg.K)	Volumetric heat capacity Thermal mass (kJ/m3.K)
Water	1000	4.186	4186
Concrete	2240	0.920	2060
AAC	500	1.100	550
Brick	1700	0.920	1360
Stone (Sandstone)	2000	0.900	1800
FC Sheet (compressed)	1700	0.900	1530
Earth Wall (Adobe)	1550	0.837	1300
Rammed Earth	2000	0.837	1673
Compressed Earth Blocks	2080	0.837	174

In a sub-tropical or tropical climate controlling the temperature of an environment can enhance or destroy the purpose of a building. Feeling too cold or too hot, too stuffy or too breezy can mean that a building/site is underutelised. Cities have much higher tempuratures as a rule, shown above in figure 3, which make it vital that we control the tempurature but in a carbon neutral, passive design to minise carbon pollution and waste of non renewable resources.

To do this in my design i'm considering several options:
- Concrete with rock inlaid
- Adobe earth walls with rock inlaid

Both of which have excellent thermal properties, earth walls are more environmentally friendly while concrete is less expensive and easier to source. Each of these products would need to be poured/rammed on site.

Another options for controlling temperature, humidity and wind:
- Screening for wind, natural wood screens and trees adaptable to dispurse humidity
- Earth covered or wall contact (this would work best if the bottom level was underground partially, both for thermal reasons and to enhance the cave effect)