5 ms·
Grab a hose and cover the concrete with water in the morning, get a fan and face it outwards to blow hot air out of the house. Having a sprinkler with a timer
by mmsc 3y ago
Grab a hose and cover the concrete with water in the morning, get a fan and face it outwards to blow hot air out of the house.
Having a sprinkler with a timer which can release just enough water to cover your roof helps too.
- sandworm101 3y agoWhich great if a city has an unlimited supply of water. But heat waves also tend to allign with drought conditions.
- mmsc 3y agoIt doesn’t require that much water. This is how family homes in the balkans and southern Europe have been cooled for decades. But now it seems at least the balkans is just one big air conditioner
- stavros 3y agoTo be fair, this doesn't have to be fresh/drinkable water. Not that we have a seawater supply in cities, but desperate times...
- sandworm101 3y agoSpraying salt water around a city would be a dramatic solution, near suicidal imho. The salt will remain, literally salting the earth and killing plant life in the city. And the rust. I wouldnt want to own a car, business or anything made of metal in that city.
- RuggedPineapple 3y agoThis is basically a technique that's been used for possibly millenia in Persian deserts. It doesn't require great amounts in many configurations. In fact the drier the surrounding air the more effective it is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l
- sandworm101 3y agoDry air makes the water evaporate more quickly, but it doesnt cause the water to carry away more heat when it does so. Per unit heat, you will use as much water in dry air as in air with some moisture. You will get more cooling out of a smaller area/device, but wont use less water to do so.
- RuggedPineapple 3y agoAnd if that were all they were doing you'd be right. But it's not. High humidity impedes radiative cooling (they use both evaporative cooling as well as radiative cooling). Low humidity allows their design to cool more efficiently then it would in a high humidity environment. These things are extremely well studied by people who know what they're doing. I'll never not be impressed by the ability of a random on an internet forum to 'well akshully'.
- sandworm101 3y agoBut the radiative cooling is going to happen with or without the water. It is a different system operating within the same device. Routing air underground to cool it will work regardless of water, at least until things heat up underground, which can be a thing in low-conductivity soils.