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@theodric@social.linux.pizza
2026-07-12 09:44:57

The ancient Middle-East had a solution for surviving the heat without chillers: windcatchers (and the related solar chimneys). Such things should be employed for first-tier cooling where possible to reduce energy demand, leaving chillers to take up the slack (until we figure out how to get infinity gigawatts of free power into every house, at which point we should just capture all the excess heat from running chillers and use the Seebeck effect to convert it into electricity to power a giant…

Windcatcher diagram. A tall tower with slats at its highest point is used to induce negative pressure into a system, drawing in hot air from another location into an underground channel. In this channel the air passes over a cool water supply, thereby chilling the air by imparting a portion of the air's heat into the water. The chilled air then enters a large plenum space serving as a refrigerator, cooled living area, or whatever.
Solar chimney diagram. The function of the system is the same as the wind catcher, except that rather than relying on wind to create airflow, convection of air in a chimney heated by the Sun creates a constant updraft which draws hot air through the system and cools it.
Windcatchers at Aghazadeh Mansion in Abarkooh, Iran
Windcatcher at an آب انبار "ab anbar" (water cellar) in Iran
@theodric@social.linux.pizza
2026-07-26 17:21:15

I fear that our egg supply is bound to shortly change from "go see if the neighbors need any eggs" to "series production of mayonnaise for the cellar"