Educators in Japan Have Wild, Eco-Friendly Idea: Use Cukes to Cool Schools
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 08.29.07
I must admit that educators in Japan have demonstrated to me that there’s simply no limit to their imagination while coming up with some fascinating material recently. Using Miso soup to educate their students about a sustainable diet in a relatively small, crowded, island nation; and using play with wood blocks to teach them the same about forestry practices in that country… But the latest and greatest craze seems to be the creation of “Green Curtains” around school buildings to help them turn down the a/c to save energy, and the movement has been gaining steam since April when their current school year kicked off.
Essentially, they’re building giant trellises out of netting from the ground through the third floors to help cool the place, and having the kids take turns tending the gardens of cucumbers and dishcloth gourds that wind their way vertically up them during break time. As the plants grow the increasing amount of shade helps to reduce the amount of sunlight actually reaching the building, while the amount of water that collects on the leaves helps reduce overall temperatures in the surrounding area via evaporative cooling as the day heats up.
While researchers have found that the “curtains” actually cut temperatures inside the classroom by one degree with the windows open and roughly four with the windows closed I must admit to being both fascinated and a bit skeptical. There certainly seems to be a whole lot of work involved growing these sky-high vegetables, and its going to take a significant amount of commitment on the part of both students and staff to see that they’re well tended. But there’s already a support group spring up around them, quite aptly named the “Green Curtain Support Group”. And with roughly 130 schools taking part already, I suspect there must be a future for cukes in Japanese schools everywhere!
Vertical trellises covered in vines to shade buildings from summer sun is a basic passive cooling design feature that has been around for millenium. It works - that is why it has been around for so long. The only unique twist here is that they are growing vegetable vines rather than using vines that don't require maintenance. Which in my opinion is great. Maximize the green benefits.
I happen to be the writer who posted this article, and I would just like to point out that I respectfully disagree with the commenter above. While this may be a new twist on a centuries old technique, to my knowledge there are very few schools, if any, that are using a similar approach to educate students. For those who are unaware of the logistics involved in getting three stories worth of vegetable vines growing along the side of even one school, it takes an incredible amount of time, energy, and cooperation on the part of everyone involved. It will also require a tremendous amount of dedication on the part of teachers, administrators, and students to keep the operation in place long term. Plus, the fact that there are 130 schools across Japan suddenly taking part in this movement is, in my view, very impressive.
Maybe someone in Japan could send me pics?
-KL