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Richard Branson Launches $3M Challenge to Reinvent the Air Conditioner

posted by martyb on Tuesday December 04 2018, @12:32AM   
from the cool-idea dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Richard Branson (who asked for UK taxpayer money to repair his private island after hurricane Irma) Has set a climate change challenge:

As the world continues to warm, you can expect more and more folks to be turning to air conditioners to keep their living environments cool and comfortable. And in that sense, this energy-intensive technology will do plenty to exacerbate the very problem it is designed to solve. The Global Cooling Prize is a competition to help stop runaway climate change, by dangling US$3 million in prize money for the development of more energy-efficient cooling solutions.

The Global Cooling Prize is backed by the Indian government among other partners, with Richard Branson taking on the ambassadorial duties.

$3M could keep this site running for some time -- go team SoylentNews!

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Original Submission

• Re:Sane dress in business Re:Sane dress in business (Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday December 04 2018, @03:24AM (2 children)

  by edIII (791) on Tuesday December 04 2018, @03:24AM (#769423)

  That's highly unrealistic.

  1. You will be murdered immediately by all the "weight challenged" people. For there is something that every fat-ass knows well; You can only remove so many layers of clothing, but you can add all you want. Some of us can get hot and sweat just by having anything against our skin. Meaning, butt naked in a chair and we will still be sweating.
  2. You may find asylum in the arms of the women. I've never heard a woman in an office building ask for more A/C, but I've heard plenty of requests to raise the temperature, and seen woman after woman with a small space heater under her desk in the summer. That happens when the men in the building demand 71 or 72, and the women want 77 or 78. A war breaks out.
  3. You want some people to have clothing on, and not the super breathable spandex that hides nothing after a little bit of sweat. First time the 50 year old wears white spandex in that environment, and bends over, you will see a dress change and lower temperature back.
  4. This will be split along gender and fitness lines. See how well that works in a world with PC the way it is.

  --
  Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.

  Parent

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• Re:Sane dress in business Re:Sane dress in business (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @04:14AM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @04:14AM (#769434)

  1) Light fabric mumu for anyone bulging outside of normal size attire
  2) Women already like skimpy clothing, that's why they prefer the A/C set to non-arctic temperatures
  3) Stop being a prude. See #1 above
  4) Free horse blinkers and blindfolds at the door for people who can't control their 'sensibilities'. Optional free mumu for everyone else.

  Parent

  • Re:Sane dress in business (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:25PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:25PM (#769551)

    Mumu has such a negative connotation. Perhaps call it a "Toga", and attract fresh-out-of-college talent into the workplace as well?

    Parent