Air-conditioning technology

Wonder if this could be paired with solar tubes for emission-free cooling?

The OxiCool is a zero-emission air conditioner that chills your house with water
Jenny McGrath | January 7, 2020

...A traditional air conditioner uses a refrigerant that transitions between liquid and gas, absorbing and releasing heat over and over again. The cold air gets pumped into the house, while the excess heat is routed outdoors. Refrigerants aren’t great for the environment and air conditioners release carbon dioxide.

The OxiCool uses water as a refrigerant, instead. While the OxiCool works similar to a vapor compression system, it doesn’t use a compressor. It’s a closed-loop system, meaning the cube should have just as much water on day 500 as on day one.

If you boil a pot of water but leave the top off, you’ll release steam into the air. Putting the lid on increases the pressure inside, because the steam can’t escape. With the OxiCool, an open flame heats natural gas to boil the water in a vacuum chamber, and molecular sieves capture the excess H2O vapor, reducing the pressure inside. Fans and condensers cool the vapor to return it to its liquid form, starting the cycle over again.

From the large, outdoor cube, coolant is pumped into the module and distributed to wall units throughout the home. These “Home Cool” devices have touchscreens and can control other units spread through the house...

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/oxicool-air-conditioner-ces-2020/

Air-Conditioning Technology is a disappointing subject to see listed on this LT sustainability group. The following book explains why:

https://thenewpress.com/books/losing-our-cool

I would assume the topic includes all sorts of natural ventilation/air conditioning, as well as greener technologies, so hopefully, it's not disappointing.

>2 MaureenRoy: Ah. I thought I'd read that book already, but nope. It was referenced in a 2017 NYT article.

How Air-Conditioning Conquered America (Even the Pacific Northwest)

Radiant cooling TED Talk from 2018:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a5NyUITbyk

In the early 2000s a friend of mine in South Africa, a Catholic bishop, built a hospice for people living with HIV/AIDS. The entire building was made from mud and grass bricks, including arched roofs 9 metres high. The air conditioning was a natural method which I'm told was based on systems used in the middles east several thousand years ago. Shafts were dug into the ground a few metres from the building, topped with chimneys also made of mud bricks, with tunnels leading to vents in the floor of the hospice. The roof also had vents in it. As the air inside the building heated up and escaped through the roof vents, it created a convection current which sucked fresh air down the chimneys and into the shafts and tunnels, where it cooled down before being sucked into the building. No fans or anything, just natural convection. I've been in that hospice when the outside temperature was in the thirties, yet it was pleasantly cool inside.

The Ancient Persian way to keep cool (BBC)

From Ancient Egypt to the Persian Empire, an ingenious method of catching the breeze kept people cool for millennia. In the search for emissions-free cooling, the "wind catcher" could once again come to our aid.

The city of Yazd in the desert of central Iran has long been a focal point for creative ingenuity. Yazd is home to a system of ancient engineering marvels that include an underground refrigeration structure called yakhchāl, an underground irrigation system called qanats, and even a network of couriers called pirradaziš that predate postal services in the US by more than 2,000 years. Among Yazd's ancient technologies is the wind catcher, or bâdgir in Persian. These remarkable structures are a common sight soaring above the rooftops of Yazd. They are often rectangular towers, but they also appear in circular, square, octagonal and other ornate shapes. Yazd is said to have the most wind catchers in the world, though they may have originated in Ancient Egypt. In Yazd, the wind catcher soon proved indispensable, making this part of the hot and arid Iranian Plateau livable.

Though many of the city's wind catchers have fallen out of use, the structures are now drawing academics, architects and engineers back to the desert city to see what role they could play in keeping us cool in a rapidly heating world...

How to build an Inexpensive Geothermal Solar Air Conditioning System to Cool your Garage using an Old Car Radiator, Solar Panel.
Jun 5, 2016 by Practical Survivalist

https://practicalsurvivalist.com/geothermal-solar-cooling-system/

District cooling: A better alternative to air conditioning?
Gero Rueter | 09/08/2023

As energy-intensive air conditioners are increasingly being installed to combat global heating, district cooling networks offer an alternative. What are the pros and cons?

https://www.dw.com/en/is-district-cooling-a-better-alternative-to-air-conditioni...

My elderly Jack Russell Terrier feels the heat way before I do. A quick bath, even just a foot bath, helps--as does an evaporative cooling vest! I had my doubts, but gave it a try when I saw one on clearance. As with wet neck bandanas, which I use myself, only trick is to remove once dry as they get HOT after that! (Amazing how long a frozen bandana stays cold in its baggie in bottom of one's purse. Invaluable when one is left sweltering in a ferry waiting line! I sometimes carry extras to share.)

Best Dog Cooling Vests and Ice Wraps
https://retrievist.akc.org/reviews/best-dog-cooling-vests-2021-reviews-on-ice-wr...

Dongliang Zhao and Huajie Tang 2023. Staying stably cool in the sunlight: Microporous ceramics passively cool buildings and reduce the need for air conditioners. Science 9 Nov 2023 Vol 382, Issue 6671 pp. 644-645 DOI: 10.1126/science.adk9614 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk9614

Abstract
Terrestrial surfaces exposed to sunlight absorb solar heat and shed heat back to outer space as infrared radiation. If the radiated heat is greater than the solar energy absorbed, then daytime radiative cooling is achieved passively, without any energy input. However, this approach requires materials that strongly reflect sunlight and simultaneously emit long-wavelength infrared light—the wavelength needed to escape Earth’s atmosphere and not be reflected back. Ceramics composed mainly of silica (SiO2) and alumina (Al2O3), and that permit long-wavelength infrared emission, can meet these requirements. Moreover, they are durable, thermostable, and water-resistant. On page 684 and 691 of this issue, Zhao et al. (1) and Lin et al. (2), respectively, describe microporous materials— a glass-based ceramic coating and a ceramic composite—that exhibit passive daytime radiative cooling and resistance to harsh environments. These advances may lead to more environmentally friendly ways for keeping buildings cool.

I was wondering if the books referred to above are listed in LT catalogs.

• >2 MaureenRoy: Losing Our Cool — yes
• >4 2wonderY: How Air-Conditioning Conquered America — no?

Related:
>6 John5918: Celsius vs Fahrenheit (for example, the average human body temperature is 37.0 C or 98.6°F)
https://www.diffen.com/difference/Celsius_vs_Fahrenheit

>7 John5918: I learned about wind towers only this week. An alternate article for people avoiding BBC has a nice intro to the old technology is from Arch Daily (2021):
https://www.archdaily.com/971216/what-is-a-traditional-windcatcher

>12 aspirit: it’s a 2017 article in the NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/upshot/the-all-conquering-air-conditioner.htm...

>13 2wonderY: makes sense now. I misunderstood your earlier post.

MEER @MEERsrm | 4:59 PM · May 2, 2024:
Official MEER account - Climate restoration with Surface Reflection Technology (SRT). MEER is a non-profit...

#Tanzania project flyover shows what #MEER #ultracool rooftops look like from above. Passive cooling technology reduces the cavity temps by up to 12C. As the world continues to warm, affordable, durable, & scalable cooling solutions are required. In partnership with @opendeved

0:54 (https://twitter.com/MEERsrm/status/1786138414401659211)

Must be downsides?

THE POWER OF MOSS: BIO-RECEPTIVE CONCRETE CAN HELP CITIES BREATHE AGAIN

Respyre is a ‘Bioreceptive’ concrete that can transform dull grey façades into green and living expanses, increasing local biodiversity and providing the many valuable benefits nature can offer society.

...Moss converts CO2 to oxygen and absorbs and removes other pollutants such as PM10, VOCs, NOx, and NH3, from water and air.

...Through evapotranspiration and shielding of the surface from sunlight moss attributes to cooling of the structure...

https://www.brightvibes.com/the-power-of-moss-bio-receptive-concrete-can-help-ci...

Cutting-Edge Technology Could Massively Reduce the Amount of Energy Used for Air Conditioning
Chris Baraniuk | Jul 16, 2024

Roughly 10 percent of the world’s energy is used for cooling, with much of the necessary electricity generated by fossil fuels. Companies need to make AC much more efficient—as soon as possible.

...The International Energy Agency expects demand for cooling to skyrocket in the next 25 years—with two-thirds of the world’s households expected to have an air conditioner of some kind by 2050. As the climate crisis deepens, judicious use of cooling will only be more important. For one thing, it has the potential to save many lives. But air conditioners, for all their usefulness, are far from sustainable. Cooling tech could, in principle, be far more efficient....

{new dehumidify}

https://www.wired.com/story/cutting-edge-technology-could-massively-reduce-the-a...

5 lessons from ancient civilizations for keeping homes cool in hot, dry climates
Adriana Zuniga-Teran | August 30, 2024

Sumerians: Keeping cool together
Ancient Egyptians: Harnessing the wind
Ancient Puebloans: Working with the Sun
Muslim caliphates: Using every drop of rain where it falls
Mayans and Teotihuacans: Capturing rainwater for later

https://theconversation.com/5-lessons-from-ancient-civilizations-for-keeping-hom...