Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Why it's time to redesign the old air conditioner
Ever since the first air conditioner came to the market about a century ago, the economy and efficiency of the convenient appliance have been continuously improved. However, the very basic design remains unchanged. Now, there are over 1.2 billion air conditioners that are being used on the planet, consuming electricity and exhausting warm air. The problem is that the world is becoming warmer, more people work indoors, and more computers need to be cooled. In the next three decades, the number of air conditioners running on the planet is estimated to grow to 4.5 billion, about one-half of the world’s population then. Building and running more machines that warm the planet further is neither economical nor environmentally sustainable. So, the world seems to need different kinds of air conditioners or building structures, just like electric or fuel-cell vehicles to replace conventional fossil-fuel engine cars. But how?
The Global Cooling Prize is an innovation competition to develop a climate-friendly residential cooling solution without warming the planet. There are over 2,000 participants from 95 countries for the competition and eight of them are going to be tested this summer in sizzling Delhi, India for 60 days.
In the last century, things were designed to be more economical and convenient without much thought on the environment. Now, more efforts are needed to redesign more environmentally sustainable solutions.
Enjoy reading the article and learn about the rising problems of the air conditioner.
No comments:
Post a Comment