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The "Cool Brick" Can Cool Off an Entire Room Using Nothing But Water

Posted by samzenpus on from the jeeping-it-cool dept.

ErnieKey writes Emerging Objects, a company which experiments with 3D printing technology, has created what they call the "Cool Brick." Using basic concepts of evaporation, it holds water like a sponge, takes in hot dry air and converts it into cool moist air. 3D-printed with a specially engineered lattice using ceramics, it can be formed into entire walls which could be placed in different rooms of a house or building, thus replacing the need for air conditioning in hot, dry climates such as deserts.

6 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. I would think by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The last thing you want to have done in a desert is have water evaporate away.

    1. Re:I would think by Slugster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is really the problem with evaporative coolers: they work best in desert/arid environments, where water is (usually) already in (relatively) short supply.

      In humid climates water is plentiful--but they barely work at all in humid environments, where they mainly cause mildew growth (inside the home).

  2. Hot, dry climates such as deserts, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    where water tends to be in short supply than energy, e.g., sunlight.

  3. Water by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't water kinda expensive in deserts?

    --
    Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  4. Re:*cough* bullshit *cough* by tmosley · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Almost like the fabric medium in current swamp coolers, except they can't be replaced because they are mortared in there, so everyone gets Legionnaire's Disease!

  5. Quite the opposite by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 4, Insightful

    it holds water like a sponge, takes in contaminated air and converts it into healthy air.

    My concern would be the exact opposite happening: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionnaires'_disease