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We're in the middle of finding it out with climate change.
by tstenner 20d ago
We're in the middle of finding it out with climate change.
- bayindirh 20d agoMiddle? We're just starting. The air conditioning technology didn't hit its wall of fire yet. What we're going to do when that tech will cease to cool us? Every AC system (from refrigerators to air conditioners) has an upper limit, which is around 41 degrees Celsius for T1 class.
- RandomLensman 20d agoWhy would 41C be the limit for the hot side? How does it work now in hotter places?
- bayindirh 20d agoIn short: Things degrade. More: https://angliancompressors.com/blog/how-ambient-temperature-affects-air-compressor-performance/ https://angliancompressors.com/blog/how-ambient-temperature-... There's a T3 class for up to 52 degrees Celsius. While it's higher than 41 degrees, it's not significantly higher: https://zerohvacr.com/blogs/t1-t2-t3-explained-climate-classes-for-air-conditioners https://zerohvacr.com/blogs/t1-t2-t3-explained-climate-class...
- RandomLensman 20d agoIs 52C a physical limit?
- bayindirh 20d agoYes. The compressor can't pump more heat outside since it's already hot from working and trying to pump out the extracted heat as well. For T1 class of devices, that 41 degrees is also a physical limit, not an artificial cut, because of their design. You know, thermodynamics.
- RandomLensman 20d agoWhy would the limit of T1 devices matter when there are ones that already can do hotter? Thermodynamics make things harder to remove heat but not sure how they forbid it (you need the hot side to be hotter than outside to pump heat). Might need stages, for example. We can cool things 200K and more below ambient.
- boothby 20d agoYou can't AC your way out of climate change anyway: they make heat. In sparsely populated areas that might be okay, but in density, you're never far from the hot exhaust of an AC unit; they exacerbate the problem.
- Cthulhu_ 20d ago> What we're going to do when that tech will cease to cool us? Move. This is already happening, with water shortages forcing people to move. Climate change will (likely) cause famines and many deaths, but the bigger effect will be mass migration.
- bayindirh 20d ago> Move. Another planet? How? We assume that we will have a planet to live at the end of the day. I'm not so sure about it for the long run.