Slashdot Mirror
Keeping Your Apartment Cool in the Summer Time?
uvince asks: "Sure, the air is on all day at work, but when you are at home and it warms up (as the west coast is now) what do you do when a fan just won't cut it? Do you install a swamp cooler, set out a standing air conditioner, or install some air conditioner that fits in the window. How can I keep my apartment, or at least my bedroom cool? Anyone have any creative, green ideas?"
or get an apartment with AC.
"The Most Fun Possible on 4 wheels" is at SunBuggy in Las Vegas
Ask Slashdot: Why do we have to have a hyperlink on the word air?
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
turn off your fucking computer!
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
If humidity is really low in your area (which, if you live on the coast, is probably NOT the case!) A simple evaporative cooler can run with a supply of water and very little (or possibly no) electricity.
The idea is that water has to absorb heat form it's surroundings when it evaporates, like sweat absorbs heat from the body. But if there's no other source of heat, it will absorb it from the air. The water doesn't even need to be all that cold, though cold water will obviously absorb more heat.
All you need is some way to expose the water to air. One suggestion would be to build an "evaporator" out of brown corregated carboard, use a small pump to trickle water over it and a small fan to draw air through it.
If you can build a tall "stack" and place the evaporator at the top, you can take advantage of natural convection to eliminate the fan. (Cold, denser air drops down stack, pulling in more air through the evaporator)
If you can get the materials just right, and/or have a pressurized source of water (house main), you can take advantage of capillary action/mains pressure to eliminate the pump.
Silent and green. Too bad it doesn't work in humid regions!
=Smidge=
preferably with a hot chick who will invite you over to spend the night at her (air-conditioned) apartment!
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
swampies can cause fungal growth if you dont clean offen, (high temp + humidity)
I've seen ads on TV for breath mints that apparently turn everything in their vicinity to ice. I'm not sure I understand the science behind this phenomenon, but maybe with a little experimentation you might be able to harness this strange power for your own needs.
Good luck!
- Keep your windows open at night, close them first thing in the morning.
- Don't cook with your oven range (Probably not a problem for most slashdot readers)
- Keep doors shut to isolate heat transition from room to room
- Turn off all PDP-11's in the house.
If you need an air conditioner and can afford to keep it on all the time, ignore previously mentioned solutions and just keep it cranked.However, angels will cry, baby jesus will be vexed, and your PG&E bill will be orbital.
http://www.remix.net/
My Athlon workstation noticed the heat before I did. It crashed three times in one day. Wasn't the OS (LeeNux for heaven's sake), couldn't be MY code, must be the hardware. Cracked the box and sure enough dust bunnies camping out all over, including the cooling fins under the cpu fan. All was well after a simple vacuum, but it got me thinking, at 90F, it isn't even hot yet for the Central California Valley.
I hate using the AC, but most recent architecture around here assumes that you will use it. There is an earth burmed home a short distance from here. Makes perfect sense in this climate.
First entomology, then virology, and finally bioinformatics systems. Bugs follow me wherever I go.
It might help a bit.
Lots and Lots of Penguins. Things might not stay cool, but hot damn, you'll have an appt full of penguins
We're purchasing the Kenmore 15,100 BTU Room Air Conditioner for $380. This is why I like it:
* Highest BTU A/C that runs on 115 volts
* Isn't a no-name brand
* Is cheap.
I researched a *lot* of a/c's and that's what I came up with.
(If anyone else has found a better one, let me know!)
Daniel
I have a drafty apartment, with a bedroom of about 15 ft by 10 ft. Last summer I bought a box air conditioner that goes in the window. It's a 6000 BTU that I got at Wal-Mart for around (I think, dont quote me) $160.
Some nice things about it is that it attempts to maintain a certain temperature. You can set it to a desired temperature and it'll (try to) maintain that temperature by varying it's output over time. I cant tell for sure how accurate it is, but it gets the job of done from the standpoint of maintaining a consistent "feel".
You can also set a timer to turn it off after so many hours, or on after so many hours. This good for when I go to bed, I can set the timer to turn the a/c off after 2 hours so that it's not running all night, and then, when leaving for work/school in the morning, set it to how long I plan on being out minus one hour, this way my room is cool by the time I get home without the system running all day with no one there.
As for how much it's added to the electric bill, I cant really tell (nor remember). I have two roomates, each of whom have their own a/c boxen in their bedrooms. But yes - the bill will go up by a significant margin.
If you choose a box air conditioner - pick one suitable for the size of the room it'll be installed in. If it's a small room like mine, 5000 or 6000 BTUs will do, but if it's larger, go something with more strength. I highly recommend the features like those I noted above.
oh - and the best feature of my air conditioner - It has a Remote Control!
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
I live in a relatively shady area, but the humidity gets pretty bad. Instead of buying an airconditioner, we bought a dehumidifier to work with our fans. It works beautifully.
-austin
Ni bhionn an rath achx mar a mbionn an smacht (There is no Luck without Discipline)
that with a small window a/c unit and you should be set. worked for me in Phoenix and Tucson AZ quite nicely (110 degree summers).
swamp coolers are not so good. you only get a change of 20 degrees or so, which sucks if it is 105 or so.
--if your room windows get direct sun, by all means install awnings. Just keeping the sun from streaming in is good for a few degree reduction in temp. Shade *works*. the other examples are good too. sometimes there's no replacement for just normal technology,. If it was a home you could mod away at, there are some alternatives, but in an apartment, just a room, not a lot you can do, bite the bullet, slap in the window AC unit.
well, maybe there's one more thing you can do, if you have no qualms about it.....you can also get a metal detector, probe the walls, find the central HVAC ductwork from the people next door running their AC, tap into it, suck in cool airbandwith, PROFIT!!!!1!
heh heh
In the olden daze, people would sometimes use damp sheets at night, I've tried it myself, it works, The easiest way to dampen them without a big mess and a lot of hassle is to get a towel or three wet, wring them out, lay them on top of the sheet, once the amount of moisture you want (damp, not soaking) is transferred, you slip under the sheets, fall asleep. It actually works, gets cool. Another way is to sleep on an unheated water bed, they usually stay pretty cool and will wick away body heat, unless they themselves get to 98.6 obviously. Do the water bed and the damp sheet trick, at least you can fall asleep comfortable, it takes one or two nights to get used to the sheet, but then it feels real nice. That and fans and an awning is about it in the cheap and low energy range in an apartment.
Keep the windows open at night. Let it get really cold throughout the house (except maybe the bedroom). Close the windows and blinds in the morning. Having tight seals on doors and windows helps here.
In the evening, use fans to bring in cooler air from outside. (This depends on where you live. In the San Francisco area, it gets down into the 50s and 60s in the evening.)
Put the fans in the windows. Block off as much of the window as you can except the area where the fan goes. Ideally, you can find box fans that fit precisely in the window.
Important: point the fans OUT. Open a window on the other side of the house where air will come in. Pointing fans out is more efficient at moving air than pointing them in. Although pointing them in feels better, it doesn't do as good a job at actually bringing in cool air from outside.
Don't use interior fans except when you are in the room.
At night, I cool down the non-bedroom areas. During the evening, those areas are most comfortable, so I stay there. But I'm also cooling down the bedroom so that by the time I go to bed, the bedroom is comfortable.
For God's sake, man! Turn off your computer! ;)
Seriously. My damned machine heats up the entire apartment!
"Yeah, well, Dracula called and he's coming over tonight for you and I said okay."
Turn off a few computers, makes a HELL of a difference. SETI crunching is a good winter activity.
A swamp cooler will only work if it's hot but not very humid. Here in Boston, for example, it would only make things worse. Note that you can't leave loose papers lying around with a swamp cooler running -- it's like a hurricane in the house.
A ceiling fan makes your air conditioner work much better.
One thing to look for in an air conditioner is the ability to suck in a bit of its air from outside, instead of just recirculating inside air or (with the lever pulled) blowing some inside air out. (Why you would want to do the latter mystifies me, but that's what they do.) Sucking in some outside air helps push some of the cold air into other rooms.
Some ACs can be configured as heat pumps, too, so that when it turns cold they can heat the room, for much less than the cost of running an electric radiant heater, and maybe for less than gas heat, these days. As heat pumps, they cool off the outside air and blow inside air past their hot condenser coils.
Live on the ground floor in summer, the top floor in winter.
just get an ac or get central air for your house. what is the question that you are asking?
And lose some weight. You'll sweat less.
If you do want to stay green, just put in a ceiling fan. When I was living in a place without A/C (island in Thailand... high humidity and temperature), and as long as the fan was working life was good.
If you have heat sources other than a couple people recreationally involved, then cooling might actually be required. Simple solution... shut off the computer at night!
110? What part of phoenix were you living in? EVERY summer here the hot months are 115-125.
Evap works really well except during monsoon season. All you have to do is leave your doors open, that's something many people don't realize about evap, you need to get max flow and to do that you need low backpressure (ie, open all the doors)
Are air conditioners not standard equipment on the west coast?
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
After seeing all these suggestions for fans, I'm surprised no one's suggested a huge copper heatsink and a vat of Arctic Silver III.
Seriously though, having a house in the shade of something else (trees most of the time) does wonders. I know it's not the greatest idea to have trees large enough to overhang a structure (not my idea, not my tree, yes limbs have damaged the roof when falling before) between the shade from the trees and the fact that none of the windows have a clear path to catch sun, it stays a good 5-10 degrees colder most of the time.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
I find that when I water my plants, I get a nice cooling effect. Ceiling fans + watered plants + moderate to low humidity (Texas) work like a champ. Plus it makes the plants happy.
...that way, when you go in and out of the kitchen, you'll notice just how cool the rest of your house is compared.
Move to a place with central air. My place is no more expensive than any other.
Either that, or move to Alaska.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
My apartment's AC isn't that good, so here's some of the things that I try to do:
1. Change your lightbulbs. Either switch to a lower wattage incandescent, or use the compact flourescent fixtures. The halogen torches stay off all summer.
2. Turn off computers, lights, monitors and TVs when they're not being used. Yes, it will ruin your uptime, but most computers from the past few years dissipate 30-90 watts of heat. CRTs and TVs also generate a lot of heat. I had a room that I kept 10 degrees F warmer in winter just by leaving the computers (P3-866 and Athlon 1800+) and their monitors on all night.
3. Use your bedroom for nothing but sleeping. Turn on as few lights as possible, keep the TV and computer out of there. And sex will heat up a room (done properly).
4. Control your apartment's airflow. Put a fan in the window of your bedroom, aimed in. In another room, put a fan in the window, aiming it out. Close all other windows, and you should get a nice amount of airflow -- either to cool down your bedroom, or take heat out of the rest of the apartment.
5. Put a fan at the foot of your bed, and crank it up.
#2, #4, and #5 have the greatest effect in my apartment. Just remember that everything that uses electricity is going to generate some heat, and decide what you want to do from there.
The cheapest solution (green too) that I can think of is to move underground. Have you ever been in a cave? Once you get about six feet underground the temperature never changes. It's always nicely cool. Some caves even come with filtered running mineral water. Bonus!
Once underground, your only real environmental problem is lighting, for which you should use fibre optics and solar collectors during the day and use LED lighting powered by batteries when the sun is not out. Oh, and charge the batteries using solar too.
If there are no caves on the market in your area, just bury your house. Remember, the dirt needs to be at least three feet thick, but you will reach a point of diminishing returns at around five or six feet so there's no need to waste your money and labor on extra dirt. Where you get the dirt is up to you, but please ask your neighbor before digging in their yard!
Note: author not responsible for damage to buried houses
Ouch! The truth hurts!
Live in a basement. Basements, almost by definition, are cold -- even in the summer. I love it here in my grandparent's basement :)
Athlons are perfect in the winter time as the keep you warm all day/night long. Your prolly thinking this will save you alot of money on the heater bill, which it does (CPU is a multi-purpose device now acting for both PC and climate comfort). But.....durring the summer time. Muahahhahah, payback's a bitch. Enjoy ;)
Life is not for the lazy.
I've always wondered how effective running cold water from the tap through a radiator would be. Point a fan at it and let the heat go down the drain!
Sounds like an awsome idea. But the eviromental wackos would never allow it where I live (Austin TX).
Life is not for the lazy.
... if you live in a building with a tar impermeable layer. A couple of buckets of white paint will drastically reduce the amount of heat your air conditioner has to pump out.
Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
I have a second hand patton whole house air circulator, and god, do I love it. Turn it on during the day to blow all the hot air out of the house, and point it in the room at night to bring the cool air inside.
link here from amazon
...is to move to an apartment with central air conditioning. I also have a programmable thermostat so the thing doesn't need to run when nobody's home.
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
Since I own my house, I decided to get my walls injected with tri-poly insulation. My house is all brick and hollow tile construction, so it was a bit difficult for them to do the task, but it's worth the money. On days where we hit 80 degrees here, the house has warmed up inside to at most 68-70. This, combined with opening windows at night, should make life bearable inside this summer.
Heute die Welt, morgen das Sonnensystem!
When I lived in Southern California, I rented an apartment on the top floor. Typical California apartment complex- the roof was six inches think, maximum. The landlords reroofed the place and all that black tar up there would help the sun cook my place in the summer. The "property managers" were unresponsive so I took matters into my own hands, climbing up on the roof with a bucket of white paint and basically spilling it about where my apartment was located (the roof was flat and not visible from the street). This made a huge difference in temperature.
I subsequently learned that they make a paint specifically for this purpose (reflecting sunlight off of roofs instead of absorbing it) and that a lot of large buildings in the LA area were using it to lower energy usage.
Also, the previous post about awnings was spot on. Having shades is one thing, but the heat is already inside. Being able to block direct sunlight before it gets to the window will shave a few degrees off of the temperature.
Actually I spent some time thinking about this long ago (what kind of person overclocks his house?) I often thought that the evaporative cooling might work wonders on a brick house, set up a sprayer outside to spray enough water to saturate the bricks, let it trickle down and entirely wet the whole wall.
My thinking was that when we as people get out of the pool / ocean / whatever and are still wet, even a moderate breeze cools us off very quickly, to the point of chills. Soak down the outside walls of your house to do the same thing.
Didn't work, the red bricks were retaining ungodly amounts of heat from baking in the sun all day, the first splashes of water evaporated almost instantly. I guess the solid mass, a few tons of bricks, can retain way more heat than can be quickly drawn off by applying water to the surface.
At least I tried. At first I thought it had worked, but while I was outside goofing off with water cooling my house, my girlfriend was inside turning on the central AC and cranking it down to 72, which she generally does when I am not looking. Pretty effective way to cool a house, in her mind, and I have to say she is right.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Attach:
...to yourself...And you're cooling problems will be over! ;_)
- Thermal grease
- Water cooled heatsinks
- Various overly large fans
-psy
- Ensure good airflow in the space. Try and figure out if the breezes come from one side of your place or another and take advantage of that. Place fans to pull in air from one side of the house and push it out the other.
- Keep air moving around you. Ceiling fans are great - cheap, quiet, out of the way. If you've appropriate mounts the landlord shouldn't care and you can take 'em with you when you leave. Also the big cheap box fans are good as they can run on a quiet low setting yet still move air over you.
- Reduce the heat generated inside. Consider the lighting you really need. Is it best to light a room by bouncing light off the ceiling (a la torchiere) or would a few task lights for reading and such be more efficient? Turn off and even unplug electronics that aren't in use; things like amps, TV's, monitors, etc. put out lots of heat, some even when "off". Instead of using the dryer use a line outside.
- Invest in good curtains or blinds. Obviously you'll get the best ROI on the sunny side but man does it make a difference. Make sure they're light colored on the outside, or even put an additionial white layer on the outside (pinning up cheap white sheets to the backs of colored ones work ok but your local fabric shop will have better stuff.) We've gone so far as to tape a 99 cent aluminized mylar "emergency blanket" to a patio door we don't see or use but gets lots of sunlight. Finally, good curtains mean you can go cool and nekkid without attracting unwanted attention.
- Consider what rooms you air condition. We only cool our bedroom, the rest of the apartment is bearable. However we made sure to get a good AC for the bedroom and have tightly sealed the window around the AC, the door closes tightly, etc. For those like us with horizontally sliding window scoring a piece of rigid foam to fit over the tracks both seals the bottom side and reduces vibration.
- Learn how to cook "cool". The less heat you generate making meals the less there is to deal with. Find recipes that require the least cooking/roasting/boiling/frying/etc. Instead of using the oven consider the toaster oven. Figure out what meals your microwave can do a good job at. Prepare meals in advance by cooking in the late evening (or early morning) when it is coolest. Avoid eating in a hot kitchen.
- Consider making one room "the hot room". If you've machines acting as servers toss 'em in there. Same for other devices that produce lots of heat.
- If you live on the top floor see about cooling the roof. We've talked our landlord into putting a white wash onto our roof this summer. It won't cost a lot but the heat difference should be substantial, especially as we've a flat roof with no discernable insulation. Otherwise when it gets really bad consider spraying a hose up there.
- Get out of the house! Invest in books of movie tickets. Find a good park with some nice trees to sit or lay below. Here in Montreal we have an endless series of festivals (Comedy, Jazz, Carifiesta, Grand Prix, Gay Pride, Francofollies, Fireworks Competition, etc.) to keep us entertained, plus of course great street and club nightlife. Or escape the city and head to the nearest mountains, plains, or seaside, camping is cheap and fun or make friends with folks who have cottages.
Or, consider moving someplace cooler...I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Just rip it out of the side of Flanders' house, don't bother to cover you tracks and deny it when Ned comes over to ask about it.
I lived in New Brunswick, Canada for about 8 months. In one apartment I was in, we had a dehumidifier right by the bathroom. In such a humid climate, humidity can cause mold to form quicker. (this was also evidenced by bread in the cupboard going moldy quickly in cupboards) I'm not sure if it decreased the tempetature, but it did decrease mold and humidity. If you live in a humid climate, dehumidifiers can help maintain your dwelling place.
void
That will cool things down a lot!
And if that doesn't work or if is drives you crazy to have the computers off (no Slashdot!!), just spend the night at work where it's cool. Your boss will think you're really dedicated, too. Trust me, he'll never make the connection that you only work late on hot nights.
...and crank up the A/C.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Two other suggestions just to reply to the ? post:
Solar fans actually work as nice as a ceiling fan, if you get a solar cell that power an actual ceiling fan, all the better.
If you live somewhere that it's possible to plant trees that's the best thing to do. Buy a poplar or pair tree (they grow fast)
Painting your interior walls navy or gray and keeping shades pulled actually makes it cooler "seeming"
A humidifier makes dry heat seem more bearable
Make sure your duct work is PERFECTLY sealed no holes - cover it poor seals and holes if you have to with duct tape.
get an air conditioner, you fucking retard. and get rid of the 12 old computers you have on. sheesh.
Instead of buying a single Kenmore 15,100 BTU Room Air Conditioner for $US380 (39.7 BTUs per dollar) why not buy three Kenmore 5,250 BTU Room Air Conditioners for US$99 each (53.0 BTUs per dollar)?
Having just made an almost identical decision at BJ's last month, I'm backing this. I went in for the 15 KBTU $400 unit, left with 3 5 KBTU $89 units. These were Maytags with a 5-year in home service warranty and a $10 rebate. I think they were mid range in efficiency, but they sticker said they cost $38/yr to run. Being in NH I'll probably get away with $20/yr easily. All good except they screwed up and only sent me the rebate for 1 - must call...
One goes our bedroom, one in the kid's room, one in the living room. As a bonus, I save the cost of running the fans from my original plan and none of the rooms get too hot or too cold.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I had a real problem with the heat from my computer heating up the area around my desk, so I fabricated some simple directional ducts out of soda cans to direct the air away from behind my desk, and I've already noticed the results... mind you, this doesn't make the entire room cooler, just makes it seem cooler while I'm sitting at my desk.
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
Humid heat is unbearable - and that is the kind of condition when evaporator fails.
Evaporate pure grain alcohol! At $35 a galon, it is not too expensive. (Albertson's vodka is even cheaper than Everclear). Alcohol will prevent growth of mold, give out a nice refreshing smell and make your hot appartment very enjoyable. Biodegradable - and will not hurt ozonosphere.
If you are willing to invest, buy a big dewar. Liquid nitrogen in bulk volumes is cheaper than milk. Wach out for a frozen mailman on doorsteps.
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
go to somewhere you can
a. afford an apartment
b. afford to have AC
c. live above the poverty line
Perhaps you should look into some safety tips before sleeping on an unheated waterbed. Last I heard, doing that can either KILL you - or cause long-term bad effects. And at the very least, it would be incredibly uncomfortable. As a (former) waterbed sleeper, un-heating the bed is NOT recommended.
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Source: Dictionary.com
Here's the verified scoop. ...
First thing in the morning, before sunrise, open the windows to let in the relatively cool air; shortly after sunrise, close the windows to keep the cooler air inside, and do what you need to do to keep the sunshine out; when it becomes cooler outside than inside, open the windows again; then
for sleeping, close all windows except for one by your bed which you leave open just an inch, and one on the far side of the apartment into which you place a fan blowing OUT, which draws night air in through your bedroom window;
rise and repeat.
I realize that you're asking for cooling suggestions, BUT... I would like to relate my experiences in this matter. A few years ago, I had a short-term contract working in the hot, humid, jungly tropics (I'm talking 4 south of the equator in the Pacific). Coming from a Nordic country, it was a helluva system shock, but after a few days, I adapted, living and sleeping comfortably with just an overhead fan. That was until I began spending my some of my working hours in an air conditioned office. Immediately, I lost the tolerance to the heat, so that whenever I left the A/C'ed office, I felt wiped out. Spent a few days away from it, and I built a tolerance again...
SO
Perhaps you could arrange to not get exposed to the conditioned air at your workplace. I suspect you would adapt quickly, and be comfortable with just a standup fan at your home, providing there is already some air flow from open windows.
I find the noise of AC's disturbing. Can someone recommend some silent AC's?
Also, i have a basement room that gets hot, but i can't really install an AC there. Are there any alternatives out there that might help.
I just keeep a lump of mirror matter around. It couples weakly with regular matter and radiates off most of the heat as mirror photons. Also works great for cooling Pentiums, and you can run cables right through it. I thought all geeks did that.
Its not that complex..
Stick a unit in the window(s).. if thats not allowed get a free standing one and drag it around the apartment with you...
Or find another place to live..
Not been on your own long i take it?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
If you have more than one level (we had an apartment with a loft) open up windows on top and bottom. With just the windows on the main level open, our apartment would hold around 20F above outside temperature, but with the top windows open we got such a breeze (even though all windows faced the same direction!) that the differential was less than 10F.
I suggest purchasing a refrigerator &/or freezer, relocate all of your necessary belongings to be in front of these units, and leave them open. Pretty decent cooling, but any meat or icecream quickly becomes less appetising (yet still edible)
Pls No Negative Modding!
In San Diego it rapidly cools after sunset. We installed an operational skylight at the head of the stair case that cools the house in about twenty minutes. Kinda like being in a charcoal coffee can lighter, hot air rushes out the skylight and cool air comes in the downstairs screen doors. Once the house is cooled, lock up for the next day.
Option 2. Go work in the nice a/c. Time shifting to make the most of their a/c.
19:29 26/5/2546
...(AC=[A]ir[C]onditioning)
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TOPIC: cooling
i think everyone said everythings usefull (green) already:
Albedo (shades, cardboard, alufolie, etc..)
plants, trees (O2->CO2),
humidifier/dehumdifier (damp towl around fan),
store temp (open all night, close thru day, bucket full of water from cellar at night, fill bathtub with cool water, shower, put don't drain bathtub thru night. ).
turn off heating-devices (normal lamps, not "neon-lamps", computers, TV, NOT flat-screen.)
less usefull (green) ideas:
use some peltier-elements like the ones in your computer and stick them to your window. use
solarpower, self-made alternator for current source. etc... cardboard,
styrofoam around peltier-elements for NO-albedo.
get a sterling engine. very usefull if you get alot of sunshine.
put a parabol-antenna around it, so it focusses the heat to the tip of the sterling engine.
it doesn't produce any current if you don't add an alternaor, but one could use a
"belt" to tranfer the momentum from the sterling-engine to the AirConditioning-compressor.
heat from sun->sterling-engine->AC.compressor. (no current needed)
if you DO have a AC-device, i can help if you put it away from direct sunlight, and use the water, that tends to
condesate IN the room to cool the heat-sink on the OUTSIDE (simple ALU-can collecting the condesated water behind heatsink.)
install extra (passive) heat-sinks around primary (active) heatsink of the AC-unit.
if your AC is in a windy place, install it so, that the wind can help draw heat from the HEATSINK.
some better models turn of the fan in the HEATSINK if it reaches a cetain TEMP, so let the wind do it
all the (green) ideas to cool yourself without a AC should help to cool the HEATSINK of the AC if you have one
there WAS something about the earth-magnetic-field, but i forgot
-
have fun, stay cool!
I put a fan in my attic to suck the hot air out of my attic. I got the fan from Home-Depot ~C$70)built for that exact purpose and it comes with its own thermostat to turn the fan on/off automatically. The idea is to cool down the ceiling where you live and which in turn helps out the AC greatly. The shingles on the roof lasts longer too since they don't bake as much. At night when the temperature drops I sometime open the attic trap door to suck out all the heat at the ceiling but I haven't determined if that is more effective than just letting the attic venting system keep running at status-quo.
yep! possible: http://www.deviantmods.com/article.php?articleId=2 1
What's next?
Dear Slashdot, I am unable to wipe my ass without leaving little balls of shit tangled in my ass hairs. How do you Java programmers groom your A-holes?
I live in this steel warehouse in san francisco, and cooling is never a problem.. Those few days a year that SF gets above 80 degrees, I turn on the big 4' fan that's downstairs (phase three power, woo hoo!) and it moves air around the entire warehouse as long as the doors are open.. you can feel that puppy if you're standing 60 feet away.
"And how can this be? For he is the
This won't help you if it's hot at night and you want to sleep, but if it's a hot summer day, go somewhere with free A/C like the mall. Beats paying a $100+ electric bill.
Green idea: Plant Tree. Wait 10 years.
MANY of these items that have rebates are a limit of one per person or one per household.
:)
I would often get rebates at my school apartment for stuff my mom bought - An extra "household".
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When I really want to cool down my room at night I put a fan in my window and use it as an "exhaust" fan, then I open my door and point another small Vornado fan pointing out. Although if I really wanted to cool down my room, then it would be a good idea to move all my electronics out of my room, they heat up my room by about 5 degrees.
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Only 18" - That's tiny.
We have an old but MASSIVE exhaust fan that's easily 24" or more. We have it in an upstairs room, facing out the window.
For a significant portion of the summer (until it gets REALLY hot), all we need to do is open all the windows and turn that thing on, we get a cool breeze coming in to every window in the house.
Even on some of the hotter days, running it at night makes the house cool enough so that the AC doesn't kick on until late afternoon.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Sunlight pouring into a room through older windows will really heat up the room. There are several things you can do about this, including installing reflective window films (from Tap Plastics for example), or even painting some white paint onto the outside of the windows (great for places where there is no view anyway). To clean it off you just scrape with a razor blade. If you have fancy modern low-e coatings on your windows, DON"T do this.
In california, nevada, arizona, etc Evaporative cooling almost always works very well. You want to watch out for mold growth on the pads or condensation in the room. Last year Home Depot had a portable unit from "Bonaire". Anyone know where to get replacement pads?
Proper reflective roofing is a fantastic way to reduce the cooling load of your house. Google for "cool roofs" for more information. Unfortunately the most common type of roof is asphalt shingle, and there is no way to make them cool. White painted metal roofs, or built up roofs with a special white foam coating are both good ways to go.
Deciduous trees on the sunward side of the house are fantastic in the long run, but take years to grow. Perhaps instead you might prefer to plant a trellis of climbing plants on the sunward side of your house.
Indoor plants cool the room through transpiration of water, similar to evaporative cooling. This is a small effect, and works only in low-humidity environs.
Lastly, when it comes to air conditioning, multiple smaller units are usually better than one big unit. You can better modulate the cooling effect, have different zones, and run the units at higher efficiency (less starts and stops).
If you're looking to efficiently cool things on a commercial scale, absorption cooling systems can run off solar heat, or cogenerated heat.
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anyone have any creative, green ideas
If you're looking for environmentally friendly ways to keep cool, don't get an air conditioner. Those beasts are incredibly inefficient. According to basic thermodynamics, the _maximum_ efficiency possible from a heat engine (one that either uses heat to do work, or expends work to move heat) is given by (T_h-T_l)/T_h, where T_h is the temperature (in Kelvin) of your hot reservoir, and T_l the temperature of your cold reservoir.
Now in the context of air conditioning, the "hot" reservoir is the air outside, which is at say 305K (32 C), and the "cold" reservoir the air inside, at say 293K (20C). That gives an efficiency of 4%. So for every 100 watt of electricity you'r paying for, only 4 watts actually go towards cooling your house. The other 96 watts are expended in heating up the outside air..
So what's a green alternative? Well in the middle east they came up with a pretty good solution a couple of millenia back. They're called wind towers -- basically like very tall, wide chimneys only with no fireplace underneath. As the wind passes over the chimney (and there's almost always some wind), it draws the air up and creates a cooling breeze throughout the house. Other aids are thick solid walls and stone floors -- these cool overnight and take a long time to heat up in the day.
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