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I'm thinking about blinds, but they cost 10k eur to install and require approval from the union of house owners. So I opted for heat-reflective window foils in

I'm thinking about blinds, but they cost 10k eur to install and require approval from the union of house owners. So I opted for heat-reflective window foils instead. Only costed 30 eur. They help — but only a little. Maybe cool my living rooms by 1C or 2C in the summer. In the mean time my wife complains that the rooms are too dark and uncomfortable. She doesn't understand why I don't just install AC. Neither does anyone else in her social group. So, what is a man going to do to keep his wife happy?

londons_explore 4y ago
As an individual, just do whatever is most cost effective. As someone willing to put effort in to make the world a better place, start a company to develop a low energy equivalent. For example, data centers (which are very energy conscious), are typically cooled with evaporative chillers. They can typically keep the indoor air 15C or so below outdoor air temperatures, especially when humidity is low. The challenge is evaporative chillers require quite a lot of maintenance (in a datacenter, someone will check water PH and dissolved solids every day for example)... Your efforts will go into automating this process. Perhaps build a 'home evaporative chiller'? The reward could be huge - many people spend $1000/year or more on electricity for AC. If you can sell them something that costs only $100/year in water charges, they might be happy to pay you say $500 as a service fee/equipment rental.