June 17, 2024
Consider it the feedback loop from hell: The greenhouse gas emissions air conditioning releases ensure that we will continue to rely on it.
Paige Avila cools off her brother Eric Avila in Massachusetts in a 2012 heatwave.
(Peter Pereira / Standard Times via AP Photo)
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The odds are that the entire
PITTSBURGH — Salmon may now have their own version of human air conditioning.
This past summer, hundreds of fish in the Wrights River in Nova Scotia, Canada, found reprieve from the heat in human-generated plumes of cold water, civil engineer Kathryn Smith reported October 17 at the Geological Society of America meeting. The work, though only proof of concept, could aid efforts to conserve cold-water species amid the widespread warming of rivers due to climate change (SN: 10/20/22).
A Purdue University experiment was sent to the International Space Station on Tuesday to collect data toward understanding how reduced gravity affects condensation.
The experiment launched on Northrop Grumman’s 19th commercial resupply services mission onboard an Antares 230+ rocket at 8:31 p.m. from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The NG-19 spacecraft is expected to dock to the space station early Friday morning.
Along with other science investigations, with those and cargo on the Cygnus cargo spacecraft weighing more than
First-look photographs have been unveiled of the brand-new Piccadilly line Tube train, showing the first nine-carriage set to come off the production line.
It is the first of 94 new Siemens Mobility trains destined for the London Underground and was built at a factory in Vienna before being moved to Siemens’ Test and Validation Centre in Wegberg-Wildenrath, Germany.
Photographs show the train leaving the factory
A surprising set of materials could soon help make more efficient air conditioners that don’t overtax the electrical grid on hot days.
As extreme heat continues to shatter records around the globe, demand for air conditioning is expected to triple in the next few decades. That’s why the race to build more efficient air conditioners has become increasingly urgent.
Although some companies focused on improving existing designs, others are looking to entirely new systems that use materials called desiccants. The
Rather than small silica beads, Blue Frontier’s cooling technology relies on a salt solution that’s so concentrated, it can pull moisture from the air.
Here’s how Blue Frontier’s cooling system works: first, a stream of air passes through a channel and over a thin layer of desiccant, which pulls moisture out of the air. Next, the now-dry air goes through an evaporative cooling step, which lowers the temperature of the air (basically the same way sweat cools your skin).
In
Climate change is making extreme heat the norm across more of the world, increasing the need for adaptation. But in the case of AC, some experts are concerned about how to balance that need with the harms the solutions can cause.
Global AC sales more than tripled between 1990 and 2016, according to a 2018 report from the International Energy Agency. That growth is likely to continue, with energy use for cooling worldwide expected to triple again between now and
