This publication from the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) promises much. The mountain areas of the countries in question—China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan—each contain regions where the thermal demand for space heating and the free thermal supply of the sun are reasonably in phase. The high altitudes generate the demand for a significant part of the year, while the solar supply is capable of meeting most, if not all, of it. However, it is not as simple as all that. The ratio of demand to supply depends not only on particular mesoclimatic and microclimatic characteristics but is also reliant on a multitude of variables in terms of the design of the buildings. These variables are normally controlled or specified by the architect.

Thus, the scene is set for the kind of useful information one might reasonably anticipate from such a title. However, expectation and fulfillment are unfortunately not too well matched. Papers from four workshops organized by ICIMOD in each of the four countries do not appear to have been well edited. For instance, there is a considerable amount of overlap between the six main chapter themes, which makes for a general lack of cohesion. Papers from any of the regular solar conferences inevitably reflect the varying disciplines of the authors. Typically engineers and physicists dominate, with the contributions of architects very much in the minority. This then raises the issue of where the market for such a publication lies. If it aims primarily at the scientific community, the architectural one remains in the dark or perhaps, at best, in twilight. To illuminate architects so they are enthused enough to design solar buildings, scientific data must be translated. This then is the dilemma for the editorial team. Of course, one might rely on the consultants of the architects to assimilate such knowledge, and then it is they who have the responsibility of translated dissemination. But for all the glib talk of holistic multidisciplinary teams, real cross-disciplinary understanding remains poor.

Even accepting the unedited scientific bias of the papers, there are other frustrations. For example, the relationship between the mountainous regions, their climates, and the distribution of population is not given. Thus, the architectural market remains undefined. Also, although the essential domestic problem of aligning the thermal profile of cooking to that of space heating is quite well summarized at the outset, its resolution is not systematically addressed. This may reflect how the workshops were organized in the first place, but it is frustrating. The challenge is to use affordable materials in suitable areas and quantities to achieve an appropriate level of thermal resistance, capacitance, and radiant transmission in order to enable fuel-efficient cookers to meet the residual space-heating load together with passive solar gain and other incidental gains. This challenge clearly brings in the geometry of plan and section and relative positions of materials, in relation to free thermal gains, in such a way that captured solar energy is not displaced in terms of its usefulness by the other thermal inputs. In order to try to get some sense of how the workshop dealt with these fundamental issues, it is necessary to go from one paper to another to find out small parts of the puzzle; the hope is always to get a more complete picture. This is where a stronger editorial hand could and should have come much more strongly into play.

There are also irritating lapses of accuracy, for example, with names and dates, as well as lack of consistency with units. Conversion to SI units throughout would have been welcome. The contact details for individual authors would also have been very useful. Then any queries could be readily resolved and more detailed information, particularly with respect to systems and performance, obtained. Although some authors do provide informative drawings and summaries of data, others do not, and access to further information over and above the bibliographies becomes vital. Further, where examples from other climatic regions are cited, there is very little information with respect to the specific relevance and capability of the techniques for the mountain climates under examination.

This commentary may seem overly negative. The document does contain much valuable information, which in turn represents much useful work, both in the field and from predictive simulations. However, the bottom line is that, in its present form, this remains a book that points to the need for at least one other book, more coherently structured and digestible for both architectural students and practitioners, and perhaps another appraisal specifically for scientists and engineers.