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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!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:20PM
I read the spec. Here is the parameter that makes it a joke:
"Usable in existing homes, rather than requiring a "designed in" engineering solution"
The inefficiency of existing HVAC, has more to do with shitty architecture than it does with HVAC design. Since changing architecture is out of the question, all these guys are really doing is making a faff, and using it to snuffle other peoples I.P. It is easy to offer a big prize for a solution that requires violating the laws of physics.
IOW, if you could do what they are asking, you'd have no problem getting your own angels, on much more preferable terms.