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Low cost, energy-saving radiative cooling system ready for real-world applications (edit: fixed link)
University of Colorado Boulder and University of Wyoming engineers have successfully scaled up an innovative water-cooling system capable of providing continuous day-and-night radiative cooling for structures. The advance could increase the efficiency of power generation plants in summer and lead to more efficient, environmentally-friendly temperature control for homes, businesses, utilities and industries.
The new research demonstrates how the low-cost hybrid organic-inorganic radiative cooling metamaterial, which debuted in 2017, can be scaled into a roughly 140-square-foot array—small enough to fit on most rooftops—and act as a kind of natural air conditioner with almost no consumption of electricity.
"You could place these panels on the roof of a single-family home and satisfy its cooling requirements," said Dongliang Zhao, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in CU Boulder's Department of Mechanical Engineering.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:49PM (1 child)
A dewar insulates. It minimizes heat transfer by conduction, radiation, and convection. A well-insulated building is like a dewar. This is very different. The idea is to transfer heat away from a structure by radiating it to outer space.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 31 2018, @05:15AM
If the space radiates back with the same intensity, that will do nothing - the outgoing and the incoming radiant flux will cancel.
Unless you managed to create the "thermal diode", that is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0