Buildings UI, good and bad
posted by nthdegx on Aug 13, 2007 - 38 comments

Roll your own air-conditioning. I'm a student, with limited funds and a cheap house without air conditioning. To avoid dying this summer, I've built a primitive air conditioner. It's a basic heat pump, using water as the medium. You'll probably need to fiddle a bit with the dimensions of the supplies based on your resources and preferences. Not sure I'd do this but hey, when you're sweltering hot, anything is worth a try.
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Jun 15, 2005 - 48 comments

Cool! Toronto's Deep Lake Water Cooling System was launched today. The system cuts electricity consumption in commercial buildings by 75 per cent by drawing near-freezing water through pipes extending five kilometres out into Lake Ontario. According to the city, the system will save enough power to service more than 100 Toronto office towers or 4,200 homes per year, and it will eliminate 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Here's a public television segment explaining the process. Seems like it makes a nice complement to the lakeshore windmill.
posted by stonerose on Aug 17, 2004 - 48 comments

Operation: Air Conditioner
It's about dropping our differences and getting together to support our troops and keep them cool.
Should I feel terribly guilty about giggling at some of the things on this web page? Like: "Together We Are: An Army of One" (Say what?) and "Here are some of the items that I buy and send besides air conditioners: Baby Wipes, Powder... Liquid Soap (I heard the bar melts)... Tiki Torches. Check out the Baghdad Weather Report near the bottom, and... wait a minute... "I’ve organized people to begin “Operation Christmas” and we need to start planning that in August." (So we aren't leaving anytime soon?)
And, while they seem to have enough power to run the A/C at the Army camp, electricity for the rest of Iraq is still gonna take some more money.
posted by wendell on Jul 17, 2003 - 30 comments