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Always remember that the Persians in Iran have had air conditioning for over 1000 years now, in a really hot place, completely sustainable. It might not make ro

by geff82 7y ago

Always remember that the Persians in Iran have had air conditioning for over 1000 years now, in a really hot place, completely sustainable. It might not make rooms freezing cold as it is possible today, but it works. It is called a "badgir". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher I am sure we can learn from them and maybe develop that idea further.

hwillis 7y ago
"Completely sustainable" is a technically true but only for a fairly low (<20%) percentage of locations. It's just evaporative cooling, so it relies on a large water supply. It also increases local humidity significantly so it can make the outside environment even more uncomfortable much more quickly than normal air conditioning. It's also more expensive anywhere water isn't essentially free. That said it's great in places like India and southeast Asia, where huge numbers of people live.
- jdmichal 7y ago
  Those are sometimes called swamp coolers in slang, and are pretty common in the US where it's dry enough to be effective. But that pretty much excludes the entire east coast and Gulf areas.
- geff82 7y ago
  And honestly, in many other regions: just accept that it sometimes gets hot. In Germany, where virtually no private home has AC, it can get really hot inside from June to September especially when houses are not that well isolated. But people just go on with it. In places like Texas or California, this is another story. But as you stated: probably it is hot enough for some kind of "persian style" cooling.
axaxs 7y ago
It's a neat idea, but doesn't help in humid regions, which I'd wager is where most AC is used(US Southeast, South East Asia, tropics, etc). An outdoor mall in Miami was built with a wind ribbon, which feels effectively useless sadly. An interesting idea I read about recently was a guy claiming to lower his utility bills by effectively running an AC to remove humidity, then a swamp cooler inside. No idea if it's more or less effective, though.

by geff82 7y ago

hwillis 7y ago

"Completely sustainable" is a technically true but only for a fairly low (<20%) percentage of locations. It's just evaporative cooling, so it relies on a large water supply. It also increases local humidity significantly so it can make the outside environment even more uncomfortable much more quickly than normal air conditioning. It's also more expensive anywhere water isn't essentially free. That said it's great in places like India and southeast Asia, where huge numbers of people live.

jdmichal 7y ago
Those are sometimes called swamp coolers in slang, and are pretty common in the US where it's dry enough to be effective. But that pretty much excludes the entire east coast and Gulf areas.
geff82 7y ago
And honestly, in many other regions: just accept that it sometimes gets hot. In Germany, where virtually no private home has AC, it can get really hot inside from June to September especially when houses are not that well isolated. But people just go on with it. In places like Texas or California, this is another story. But as you stated: probably it is hot enough for some kind of "persian style" cooling.

axaxs 7y ago

It's a neat idea, but doesn't help in humid regions, which I'd wager is where most AC is used(US Southeast, South East Asia, tropics, etc). An outdoor mall in Miami was built with a wind ribbon, which feels effectively useless sadly. An interesting idea I read about recently was a guy claiming to lower his utility bills by effectively running an AC to remove humidity, then a swamp cooler inside. No idea if it's more or less effective, though.