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This 'Cold Tube' can beat the summer heat without relying on air conditioning:
"Air conditioners work by cooling down and dehumidifying the air around us—an expensive and not particularly environmentally friendly proposition," explains project co-lead Adam Rysanek, assistant professor of environmental systems at UBC's school of architecture and landscape architecture, whose work focuses on future energy systems and green buildings. "The Cold Tube works by absorbing the heat directly emitted by radiation from a person without having to cool the air passing over their skin. This achieves a significant amount of energy savings."
The Cold Tube is a system of rectangular wall or ceiling panels that are kept cold by chilled water circulating within them. Since heat naturally moves by radiation from a hotter surface to a colder surface, when a person stands beside or under the panel, their body heat radiates towards the colder panel. This creates a sensation of cooling like cold air flowing over the body even if the air temperature is quite high.
Although these types of cooling panels have been used in the building industry for several decades, what makes the Cold Tube unique is that it does not need to be combined with a dehumidification system. Just as a cold glass of lemonade would condense water on a hot summer day, cooling down walls and ceilings in buildings would also condense water without first drying out the air around the panels. The researchers behind the Cold Tube conceived of an airtight, humidity-repelling membrane to encase the chilled panels to prevent condensation from forming while still allowing radiation to travel through.
A new cooling system for your home?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 20 2020, @04:51PM (1 child)
So, to the penny pinchers and third world / developing countries. Sure, some people might be comfortable enough at 86F+ in the shade with a breeze, but I'd wager most Americans who live where it gets to 100F+ regularly, would want something that makes it substantially cooler.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @04:58PM
I used to live just north of the tropics and one of the things that I learned is that it's generally less about the temperature than it is about how you manage it. Yes, there is a point where you cannot manage it other than with air conditioning, but around the world there have been some brilliant solutions. As a practice, I used the air conditioner sparingly, usually starting at what was comfortable for me at the time and bumping it up a few degrees everytime I got adjusted. I also made a point of adjusting my food to match what was available in season at the time. It made a massive difference.
Around here it only gets into the 90s for a few days before dropping back to the 70s, the spike is extremely dangerous because the body doesn't have the chance to acclimate to it. Whereas other parts of the country, or even state, get hotter weather for weeks on end, we don't get to benefit from our body's adjusting to it. As a result, it's just harder to deal with and harder on the body than it would be if the area were like that for weeks.