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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @12:41AM (4 children)
Just need to put one end of the heat exchanger in outer space. The same structure can be used as a space elevator and the temperature difference between top and bottom can be used to generate bonus electricity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:01AM
Thermoelectric generation that sees increased efficiency from the waste heat of anthropocentric global warming. Heads will spin!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:28AM (1 child)
You hardly need the expensive structure [wikipedia.org]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:02AM
Yeah, there is a certain masochism in having black shingle roof and colored walls. Hard to imagine how an IYI feels inside.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday December 04 2018, @03:23PM
Space based heat exchangers suck. The massive radiators on ISS shed about the same amount of heat as a large truck radiator.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday December 04 2018, @12:47AM
Doesn't seem to have a profitable business model though...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:09AM (11 children)
Build underground and let the earth cool your house/pad/man-cave.
Gimme me money!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Funny) by coolgopher on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:14AM
Just don't delve too greedily and too deep... unless you prefer heating over cooling.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:28AM (8 children)
There are literally hundreds of cooling solutions that are more energy efficient than heat-pump refrigerant, but none so easily mass produced and distributed.
Around here, ground water is a comfy 72F - all you have to do is drill two wells and put a marine AC (rejects heat to water) between them. Good luck getting anyone to service that, or adapt it as a solution for central AC in a house.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @03:46AM (1 child)
Do you have an infinite supply of cool ground water? 'Cause if not, after a while:
- the pool of water warms up; *and*
- the heat gets back into the atmosphere anyway
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 04 2018, @12:29PM
The ground is big, 20 acre feet of water have a hell of a thermal capacity, and eventually that heat does make its way back to the surface and atmosphere, where most of it radiates to space.
If solar energy didn't re-radiate to space, we'd all be vaporized within weeks.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Disagree) by suburbanitemediocrity on Tuesday December 04 2018, @07:16AM (2 children)
A marine AC is still a heat pump. Maximum theoretical efficiency is 1-cold/hot. Where cold and hot are absolute temperatures.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 04 2018, @12:23PM
Heat pumps have been >400% efficiency for ages (cost of energy to move the heat), true that the cold is rejecting heat somewhere, but much of that rejected heat effectively radiates to space, particularly when the skies are clear (and sunny).
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:08PM
You may need to read up before saying stupid things again,
http://www.powerknot.com/2011/03/01/cops-eers-and-seers/ [powerknot.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_energy_efficiency_ratio#Theoretical_maximum [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:18PM (2 children)
Maybe, but (fellow Floridian here...) what do you do about the humidity without an A/C or similar device with condenser?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:23PM (1 child)
De-humidifier [homedepot.com]. There are also water coolers that distill water from air [triplepundit.com]; you win twice with that.
Cutting the humidity will decrease the perceived temperature. You might even be able to get away with no AC and a ceiling fan, but you'll find yourself drinking more water.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:50PM
Here's the thing, though: isn't a dehumidifier kind of just an A/C that dumps its heat back into the house? In which case someone in a warm, humid climate ends up being better off / more efficient with an A/C anyway? Which, I think, is why they don't even exist in places like Florida, but are common in places that are *cold* and humid.
Collecting water from the condenser seems like an easy adaptation for an A/C, too, if it actually makes sense.
Believe me, I'd love it if I didn't need to run my A/C as much, even more so if I didn't need one at all, but I've thought about it quite a bit, and clearly others have, too, and I don't really see a better solution, in existence or in theory. I'm open to being convinced, though.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:11AM
Just a thought, pumping massive amounts of heat into the earth is probably going to wreak some havoc on soil dwelling critters and have serious unintended consequences.
With some good heat capture infrastructure we could probably recycle a lot of energy and reduce the excess heat pumped into our environment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:14AM
Another few cold winters and the AGW suckers will be trading in their air conditioners and carbon credits for fur coats.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:15AM (15 children)
2 weeks ago I bought a 50" TV. Sitting on my entertainment center it blocks half my heater vent. Not keen on melting the back of my TV, looking for options.
I measured stuff, and wanted a 45" TV. But that cost $50 more than the 50", so I thought I would make do.
Froze my ass off this morning. Wanted to turn the heat on, but don't want to melt the TV.
Solutions? Get rid of the entertainment center. Where do I put the PS4, DVD player, clock, Pi/Plex server, and store games/DVDs? Raise the heater vent? Yeah, like that's gonna happen. Doesn't help the vent is about 5 feet up, instead of towards the ceiling like it should be.
Move the entertainment center and TV? Means I either block 1 of the 2 windows in the living room, or block off the kitchen. Not gonna happen.
Buy a space heater. This is actually the best idea, with luck I can find one that has both a temperature control and a timer (as in, it's 5:30 AM, if it's cold turn yourself on). What's ironic is the best place to put a space heater is on top of the air conditioner unit.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:30AM
Do you only have one heater vent? Close the vent behind the TV, and let the other heat vents heat the room/apartment/home.
If you do really only have one heater vent, then yes, a space heater would be a good idea.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:33AM
You cold?
Buy your own server for your email, run for president, you'll get plenty of heat! (From the computer, too!)
(Score: 3, Informative) by VanessaE on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:38AM
Unless the hot air coming from that vent exceeds about 220°C, you're not going to melt the TV's casing (which is most likely ABS). If it IS that hot, fix your furnace. The hot air won't do the electronics any good, in any case.
So, buy some sheet metal and rig up a simple duct to aim the hot air up or sideways. Or fire up your 3D printer and make one.
(Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:39AM
Diverter? Can you put a hood on the heat vent so it blows sideways?
Relevant Amazon Reviews [amazon.com]:
Heaven Can Wait.
4.0 out of 5 stars
It can change your life!
December 11, 2013
TV is Fantastic! Unfortunately it would not fit through the maze of doorways into main Family room.. Currently sitting in the garage plugged in, next to the snowmobiles. Wanted to knock a wall in to fit the new set, but the wife just had some very expensive wallpaper installed, lifted from some old Library in Ireland, so that's out. Can't have it in the Living room, as it does not match the decor of Elk Heads and Italian Marble.
Fortunately, a neighbor who is a contractor saw my dilemma, and offered to enclose part of the garage as an entertainment/media/snowmobile room.
Currently debating that addition, or just returning the monster and giving everyone an iPad Air for Christmas.
5.0 out of 5 stars
February 7, 2014
Just buy it, you will not regret it! It is everything you will want, I mean everything!! I love mine, very good quality!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well Worth it
January 30, 2014
I sold my wife's car and cashed in our retirement to get this tv and it was totally worth it. Granted she has to get up a hour and a half earlier to catch the bus but we're saving on has and insurance so that's good. The picture is so clear and life like. It's just as if I'm looking out a window. Only a much nicer window then the ones we have since they're kind of dirty, and the view from them sucks. I've also found it helpful to cover all the windows in my living room so no gets any ideas about stealing my tv. It's ok because I hung shades on either side of it and now I can pretend I live where ever I want! The picture is THAT GOOD!!!!! I can't recommend this TV enough. If I could give it 14 stars, I would. It's that good. And all the educational programming my daughter can watch on it should help her get a schoralship (at least I hope if will cause we can't afford college now). Again, don't hesitate, just buy it. Plus it's Prime so you get free shipping!!!!!!!!!
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by linkdude64 on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:43AM (7 children)
The biggest problem with blowing air on electronics is that they're going to get dust piled on way faster than they would otherwise. Get a piece of cardboard, cut it out to fit behind your TV so that it won't be seen, and duct the air away from it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:38AM (6 children)
This. Plus the fact the TV is venting hot air to the top, last thing I want to do is blow hot air down. Then again, it's a nice balmy 40 degrees F so I don't think an overheating TV is an issue.
CSB. Couple years ago my PS3 started overheating on hot summer days. I turned it around and vacuumed the fan vent. No joy, so I took an ice pack from the freezer and put it on top of the PS3. Problem kept getting worse, after a while I couldn't ignore it any more (in other words, a weekend). Know how most electronics that have a top half and a bottom half try to make an air/water tight seal? Not the PS3. That was a great opportunity for cooling. I pulled dust ropes from all around my poor PS3, no wonder it couldn't breath.
Moral? If you still have a PS3 and, like me, think Spring Cleaning is running the vacuum over the air vent, then think again.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:51AM (4 children)
I used to disassemble and then blow the fans with compressed air, then reassemble. Now I just blow compressed air and pray that the condensed water dries before it becomes a problem. PS3, notebook, NUC, all the same. Some day I'm going to stop being cheap about it and buy a real fanless PC.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Tuesday December 04 2018, @05:30PM (3 children)
Fanless usually means you're not buying top of the line and low power as well. You should be able to build a pretty decent and yet cheap fanless PC for pretty cheap. Depending on how cheap / slow you want to go, you even have something like the Raspberry Pi. On the other end, you could build a cheap "fanless" PC for about $200, if you skip windows and go with cheap but good parts. That machine would run circles around a Raspberry Pi. My favorite place at least for checking specs and finding most purchased / reviewed things is Newegg. https://www.newegg.com/ [newegg.com]
Some prices are limited time:
$44.99 - RAIDMAX Vortex V3 ATX-403WBP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 450W Power Supply Pre-installed
$64.40 - AMD A6-9500E Bristol Ridge Dual-Core 3.0 GHz Socket AM4 35W AD9500AHABBOX Desktop Processor Radeon R5
$38.99 - HyperX Fury 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR4 2400MHz DRAM (Desktop Memory) CL15 1.2V Black DIMM (288-pin) HX424C15FB/4 (Intel XMP, AMD Ryzen)
$54.99 - ASRock AB350M-HDV AM4 AMD Promontory B350 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$24.99 - Kingston A400 2.5" 120GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SA400S37/120G
Total: $228.36 + shipping and handling (some items ship free others are $4 or so shipping) + tax
You could go with something crazy like the following, but it's barely a step above a Raspberry Pi, for a whole lot more. Also, the built-in 16GB "SSD" wouldn't be ideal.
$195.99 - Mini PC Fanless Industrial Office Personal Desktop Computer with AMD LX-420 Quad Core USB3.0 WiFi LAN SSD/HDD, Support Linux Windows 7/8/10
CPU: AMD G-Series "e-Kabini" LX-420 2.0Ghz;
Configuration: 2G ram 16g ssd wifi
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: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 04 2018, @09:37PM
R-Pi still does not qualify as a "real PC" in my book - neither do Atom nor Celeron systems. Core i3 or better is almost there, and I typically am not happy 'til I'm up in the Core i5 range. I've been a spcr fan for years: http://www.silentpcreview.com/section18.html [silentpcreview.com] and actually purchased an i5 for use at work, it ran about $2200 for something that a similar-ish NUC might have cost ~$1000 - not entirely apples to apples because the silent PC has a miniITX mobo and I believe a true 4 core processor instead of 2 hyperthreaded like you get in the NUCs.
Anyway.... watch those "limited time" prices - I've been keeping my eye on Samsung EVO 860 1TB m.2 SSDs for a few months now, their Amazon prices have bounced between $129 and $189 over the space of weeks.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by bibendumsn on Wednesday December 05 2018, @04:34PM (1 child)
Nice setup, but aren't the case, power supply and processor still using fans for cooling?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday December 05 2018, @04:58PM
The power supply would be a necessary evil. You wouldn't need the case fans and the processor should be low power enough not to need a fan.
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: 2) by Barenflimski on Tuesday December 04 2018, @06:56PM
If the vent is in the middle of the wall, you can most likely route it between the studs up or down so as to have it exit above or below the TV. Sure you'll have to fix the drywall, but its fairly simple. Good luck!
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:11AM
Why don't you mine coins?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Tuesday December 04 2018, @07:10AM
Move South? (assuming you are in the Northern Hemisphere.)
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2, Informative) by pTamok on Tuesday December 04 2018, @09:28AM
Doesn't help the vent is about 5 feet up, instead of towards the ceiling like it should be.
Umm, in my world, hot air rises, so the logical place to put a vent that blows hot air would be near to the floor, not the ceiling, unless you like your room temperature to be stratified.
I too have suffered from 'warm air central heating', which in my experience was (a) noisy (b) made the room air distressingly low humidity (c) draughty (both warm and cold) (d) did nothing to ameliorate the cold air sinking from the windows (e) subject to all the warmth disappearing up the (open) stairwell from the living area in the open plan house, so the bedrooms became too warm for my comfort while the living area still needed me to wear several layers. Apart from that, it was great.
My ideal heating arrangement would be under-floor heating, but it is disruptive to retro-fit, especially to flats (apartments), and in some cases the only viable choice is electrical-resistance underfloor heating, which gets a bit expensive in running costs, unless you are lucky enough to be somewhere with cheap electricity. I know someone with whole-house underfloor heating, which uses lukewarm water through the underfloor piping generated from a heat pump where the source is a rather large and deep lake - so the lake bottom water temperature is pretty much 4 Celsius year-round. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to do the same.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:32AM
What you want is the Sandia cooler.
The prototype is for a CPU, but it works most anywhere you have a fan and some cooling fins. Replace the fan and cooling fins with the all-in-one design of the Sandia cooler, and efficiency improves.
So you'd use at least 2 for an air-conditioning unit, for air on the hot outdoors part and on the cold indoors part. You might add internal ones as well, in the fluid that runs around inside the air-conditioning unit, bringing the total to 4.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by infodragon on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:46AM (6 children)
Dump the business suit and raise temperature in office buildings by 3C. The amount of energy saved in NYC alone would be significant; extrapolate to the rest of the world.
Take it further and change the clothing materials to breath better and get another 2-3C bump and still be comfortable.
While moving forward with the above changes work towards tech solutions for more efficient heating/cooling and get multiplies of just a technological solution.
Oh yea, study termites! They had the solution long before we were figuring out fire
https://psmag.com/environment/future-of-air-conditioning-inside-a-termite-mound [psmag.com]
Don't settle for shampoo, demand real poo!
(Score: 1) by redneckmother on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:33AM (2 children)
Business suit? Hell, work "in the buff" instead!
Well, it worked for me, when I worked from home...
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 1) by infodragon on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:56AM (1 child)
I don't think coed naked business will work out very well.
Don't settle for shampoo, demand real poo!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday December 04 2018, @12:30PM
"President Trump" will make it work. TREMENDOUSLY. I promised to take the brand of the United States and make it great again. And run our government like a business. With or without clothes!!!!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday December 04 2018, @03:24AM (2 children)
That's highly unrealistic.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @04:14AM (1 child)
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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:25PM
Mumu has such a negative connotation. Perhaps call it a "Toga", and attract fresh-out-of-college talent into the workplace as well?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by driverless on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:50AM (2 children)
No he didn't. I offer as proof the article linked to, which never mentions rebuilding his home, and specifically points out that he was there "to further mobilise aid efforts and rebuilding plans for the British Virgin Islands and wider Caribbean".
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @05:28AM
I came here to comment about this exact thing. I was all in a huff thinking Branson was bullish enough to ask for money to repair HIS PRIVATE ISLAND but even the linked article makes it clear this isn't the case. Soylent starting to become sensationalist and fake like slashdot? I hope not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @08:44AM
One of those islands is privately owned by Richard Branson.
The submission is tongue in cheek; $3M is not going to fund a breakthrough in a $180 Billion dollar global market.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by edIII on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:52AM (7 children)
All an A/C does is transfer the heat inside your home to the outside. There are two reasons for heat being inside:
It's relatively cheap to keep a very well insulated area cold, or hot. The lower the R-value, the more you are spending, till the point you have a huge campfire, or you're blowing ridiculous amounts of cool air into a single spot.
If we increase the R-value of housing sufficiently, we would need a far less robust cooling systems in the summer, as well as spending less energy to to heat in the winter. There are a number of materials that we could possibly use to do this, and prefab housing like ecolite concrete. The building materials are there, and there are plenty of innovative housing concepts.
One of the bigger issues though is waste heat generated in the house from technology. My smartphone can get pretty fucking hot when charging up, and that goes for a lot of things requiring large battery capacity and fast chargers. Then we have our computers which generate substantial waste heat, televisions and monitors, ovens for cooking, etc. As well as every single AC/DC converter in the house. I would suggest the radical step of providing liquid cooling connections to different areas of the house, as well as moving to pure DC where possible. I'm looking into designing a house this way for myself, if for nothing else than the servers. PCs can be operated remotely, but that screws with the latency for gamers.
Having a variable DC hookup with a liquid cooling loop connection could allow technology in the house to be more efficient in terms of much heat it generates (no AC/DC conversion usually required), and where that heat goes. A common liquid cooling loop could remove the waste heat to a pond, or something else outside. In winter, that same waste heat could be instead shunted straight into the heating system for the house.
In some places, it may just be completely infeasible to cool a structure above ground. Making housing, and then afterward covering it up with dirt and landscaping, may the only practical way to provide cooling in some cases. That's not a bad idea either. I saw a school with buildings at least 20 feet tall, with 15 feet of landscaping up against all the walls. It looked like you were entering a bunker. I asked about it and was told by the principal they had designed it that way to help with cooling costs for the school district, and it worked.
We could keep working on A/C technology, but instead of propping up old inefficient housing tech, we should work on both sides of the equation so to speak.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:04AM (5 children)
Agreed.
Lower maintenance than liquid cooling: Big copper pipes tied to the ground and/or the water pipes under the house. Tie some of your hot sources to cold plates.
Conduction isn't as good as pumped hydro, but it's better than nothing, especially if passive.
Small DC fan on cold plate optional.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday December 04 2018, @03:58AM (4 children)
At the retail price of copper, you may just as well propose huge diamond crystals for the purpose - at least they have a large thermal conductivity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Tuesday December 04 2018, @07:33AM (3 children)
Only $9/kilo. That's ~$1/m, 2.5mm (10AWG) or $3/m for 35mm pipe.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Tuesday December 04 2018, @08:37AM (2 children)
Linky please? Here's what I can find locally [bunnings.com.au] retail prices.
---
The original context specifies "no liquid cooling".
A big pipe without a circulating liquid inside is almost dead as to thermal transfer. Heat diffusion is proportional with the surface and invers proportional with the length the heat needs to travel.
Now, you can arrange to absorb (release) heat from inside (to outside/in the ground) by increasing the exposed surface - just use a longer pipe for exposure.
Trouble is when you consider the transport between hot and cold exposed areas - this will go through an area as large as the cross-section of the pipe wall. At 1mm wall thickness, 35mm inner diameter, the area is π×(R2-r2)=166 mm2.
Assuming 20cm of pipe between inside/outside (a thinish floor) and the temperature differential is between 32C (inside) to 2C (almost frozen soil), the heat transfer between the two ends through the copper pipe is ~10W [thermtest.com].
Now, if you want passive (no liquid cooling), you'll want bars of copper, not pipes. At 35mm radius for a bar, the minimal heat transfer surface blows up to a 3850 mm2, which increases the dissipated heat to a "whooping" 300W.
The initial investment for "passive cooling using sunken copper bars" for a reasonable home size is left as an exercise for the reader.
For supplementary points, the reader is invited to describe a solution that works during winter, when one would be happy not to lose the heat in warming the underground.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:19PM (1 child)
Actually, your link is not that crazy price. Somewhat of a markup, but it costs about AUS$30 for that 3.1kg of pipe. The price is $50. So, you have about 70% markup for manufacturing and distribution for the that pipe from raw metal.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:39PM
This doesn't make it cheap tho.
I tried to find a copper round 42mm diameter for machining in a hobby project. I gave up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:38PM
Those are all good suggestions. Thorough insulation is the best bang for the buck. Windows are always the achilles heel for the envelope of the structure, but don't spring for the triple-paned argon-filled options, because we will never make our money back on the initial investment. Instead, good old-fashioned storm windows that we nail to the outside are much better. If we want something automatic, there are insulated roller shutters like is common in Europe (those add extra privacy and security also).
New buildings can use Passiv house standards to achieve energy efficiency, or use earth the way you describe. Existing buildings, though, can still help themselves a great deal by switching their heating and cooling to a ground-source heat pump. Fluid coming out of a loop of pipe buried in the ground will emerge at 55F year round. In the winter we only have to bump that up a little to 72F, in the summer we can blow a fan across a coil carrying that 55F fluid and we have air-conditioning. Some setups can dump heat into our water heater also, such that we see even more dramatic efficiencies.
Washington DC delenda est.
(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.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:52PM (1 child)
I have always thought radiating all that nicely harvested heat to the outside air was a waste. Think of the lengths we go to burning fuels to heat water up and generate electricity, but when nature kindly supplies us with more of the stuff than we want, we dump it outside and have it do no work at all before flying away.
Why not harvest it and dump it into the water heater? Or use it to generate electricity via a stirling engine or thermoelectric generator?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @04:35PM
People do. Typically with ground source heat pumps. The heat pump is essentially just a loop with a water heater in it. The HVAC water heater is slaved to the tap water heater using solanoid valves. There are other ways. Buildings with their own power plants (hospitals for example) sometimes use fancy heat exchanger setups.
The simplest solution of all is to VAT light colored and dark colored roofing material at different rates. People who are willing to pay the extra dough offset the state treasury with their vanity, and everybody else pays less tax and gets lower energy bills. 600M people times a reduction of 1-3% on summer cooling Kwh, is quite a reduction, and all it takes is the stroke of a pen.
Another really simple solution is to require HOA's to offer square-foot-minimum reductions for high efficiency construction. McMansions are the dumbest fucking thing when it comes to energy use, and they are financial anchors when energy prices rise. A high efficiency home is more expensive to build, but recovers those costs quickly. So it makes sense to build smaller more efficient homes. But since HOA's are governed by morons, they want BIG houses, because they think BIG houses make property prices rise. When fuel costs double, they are going to be pissed when there are 50 Mexicans living in that BIG house they wanted next door, because there will be no middle class families willing to pay that rediculous energy overhead.
Again, all that solution takes is a pen. It isn't about the engineering. We know how to build efficient houses. It is about the market incentivizing wasteful design and implementation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @06:43PM
what happened to that google price for the smallest Ac-Dc converter?
did somebody win? was it patented? are they already using it? can i buy it?
does it work in reverse, Dc-Ac and with grid syncing capabilities?
thx.
(Score: 1) by Luke on Wednesday December 05 2018, @09:40PM
I thought I'd read the referenced article in which the link claimed Branson was looking for taxpayer money...
It's clear to me that in fact Branson was doing nothing like that, rather he was assisting in the recovery effort for the entire British Virgin Islands group.
Along with his positive input to developing a more efficient cooling system (part of his general attitude to philanthropy - https://www.philanthropyforum.org/people/richard-branson/ [philanthropyforum.org] ) I continue to be impressed with this man.
While not perfect I can't help but feel he's done more for people than many others, and so it annoys me to see him maligned as this link header does.