

Modeled on man: Breathable skin for buildings - nigelbhumans
http://www.humansinvent.com/#!/10777/modeled-on-man-breathable-skin-for-buildings/
Biologist turned architect, Doris Kim Sung, is working on another energy efficient and passive method of ventilating buildings, taking inspiration from the human body in search of a more sustainable design. She is advocating the fairly simple yet ingenious idea of a breathable skin, like that of the porous human skin, to encase buildings.
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jvm
My issue with exciting things like this and solar heating is that in most
cases we are nowhere near the technological limit of climate control
efficiencies that can be achieved with a reasonable amount of effort.

My aunt was selling solar heating in Minnesota. People would be really
interested until they found out the first step was doing a really thorough
(and somewhat costly) job insulating the house, which provides more energy
savings than the solar panels themselves in most cases (it's certainly more
cost-effective). They didn't really care about saving energy, they just wanted
solar panels as a status symbol.

As long as energy remains subsidized and people don't have to pay for the
externalities they create by polluting, eco-friendly innovations like hybrid
and plug-in electric cars, solar power, and breathable skins will remain of
interest only as status symbols and badges of group identity.

(as an aside, Europe and Japan seem to do a better job of actually giving
people financial incentives to waste less, although people should correct me
if my view is naïve)

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dmlorenzetti
One major obstacle this technology will face-- even in regions where ambient
air temperatures are appropriate-- is control. The bimetal strip can only act
based on its local temperatures.

By contrast, the amount of heating or cooling a building needs generally is
set by the distributed conditions throughout the building. For example, many
commercial buildings require cooling in the core throughout the year-- without
regard for the insolation or the air temperature at the envelope. So this
technology will not, in many cases, eliminate the need for mechanical assist.

Another aspect of the control problem is the wishes of occupants in the
perimeter spaces. As described, the incident sunlight, or the interior
temperature, are meant to control the porosity of the material. Thus occupants
get no say in the amount of sunlight they get, or the amount of air passing
through the wall.

Competing technologies allow much more control. For example, "smart glass" can
regulate the amount of light entering a space, either in response to
occupants, or to a building-level controller. Passive inlet vents can maintain
a desired airflow rate, in the face of changes in wind pressure and indoor-
outdoor temperature differences (controlling to airflow, rather than to local
temperature, is desired for air quality reasons).

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brudgers
Passive cooling is difficult because of the latent heat produced by human
occupants. Our breath and sweat are moist and air-conditioning systems remove
that moisture as well as lowering the air temperature. Lower the air
temperature without removing the humidity and condensation can become a
problem.

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habitue
"Isn’t air conditioning in temperate climates an unnecessary waste of energy?
... wouldn’t it be more efficient to just open a window instead? "

Good luck with that in Florida. Open a window, it gets hotter.

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graeme
Not in a well designed house, actually. I lived in Cuba, and in all the older
houses it was quite cool during the day, if the windows were open.

I have no idea how they did it. This was mostly in coastal areas, so there was
much wind. But it even worked in inland areas. The windows did not let in much
light. There was usually no air conditioning, and inside was generally much
cooler than outside.

In any modern buildings, air conditioning was required. I also expect this
system might not have held up in the warmest summer months.

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bradleyland
Sorry, but this sounds a little like nostalgia colored recollection. There's
nothing magical about old architecture. Yes, some designs will stay cooler
than others, but you're not getting anywhere close to an air-conditioned home
in a Florida summer using old designs (barring absurdities like stone
castles).

Florida is similar to Cuba. If you own a home located close to the beach,
you're in good shape. You can leave your windows open all winter, and most of
the fall and spring. As you move inland you lose the ocean breeze cooling
effect very, very quickly though.

I grew up in a turn of the century bungalow home about 3 miles from the beach
on the east coast of Florida. The home was built, and lived in, by a
contractor who developed much of my home town in the 1900-1915 time period.
The homes had many windows with long-ish eaves (for shade) so you could take
advantage of the breeze. Back in the early 1900s, that was the only option you
had.

Growing up, we only had a window unit air conditioner, and my parents couldn't
afford to run it much, so I can personally attest to the difficulties
associated with living in South Florida with no air-conditioning. It was never
"quite cool" (by air-conditioned standards) in our house during the summer,
even though the home was designed specifically for the environment. For most
of the day it stayed cooler than it was outside, but on a cloud-free summer
day, there was no relief, inside or out.

I'm not saying we shouldn't use innovative techniques to reduce energy usage,
but I am contesting the idea that you can build an above-ground zero-energy
home in Florida.

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graeme
This was 5 years ago and one year ago, so it's not pre-revolutionary
nostalgia. I _might_ be wrong on how well it worked inland, but I remember
feeling cool no matter which city I traveled to.

This was October to May, so like I said, the system may break down in summer.
It was still warm through those months compared to what I know in Canada, but
I know summer is warmer still.

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bradleyland
Brudgers makes a good point about the thermal capacitance of masonry below. If
you spent much time in old, stone/brick/masonry buildings, they'll feel
significantly cooler.

Unfortunately, you correctly observed that October through May is an entirely
different animal in this region. All the windows in our home are open
currently. We get many opportunities like this through the end of February,
tapering off through March and April. By May, things in Florida start to heat
up. Most could manage it, but I wouldn't call it comfortable.

In June through September, you can sit on your porch at 10 PM and sweat will
stream down your face due to the heat and humidity. It is an insufferable
burden to go without air-conditioning in this place during the summer months.

I also suspect that Cuba, being such a narrow strip, and having significant
elevations in areas, has a more temperate climate than flat, hot, and wet
Florida.

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lifeisstillgood
Marketing pro-tip:

    
    
      do not *ever* advertise or suggest you are going to 
      use material that is "like human skin".  Its creepy.
    

Other than that its quite a nice idea. Yes eventually buildings will need to
have _something_ like this - looking at the roof line of any major city gives
the impression the fan-powered aliens have landed.

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ben0x539
When visiting the article, I get interrupted by the following popup

    
    
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I don't really like drive-by cookies, modal dialogs, or dialogs that try to
force a choice on me, but can it be construed as consenting to cookies from
that site's ads and tracking machinery if I use javascript or CSS or whatever
to remove the popup without actually clicking continue?

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jnorthrop
They are asking for explicit consent to allow them to serve cookies. This is
in direct response to the EU Cookie Law[1]. The law requires that companies
who use "tracking cookies" get permission from the user before implementing
the cookies. It is their decision to not accommodate users who object to these
cookies.

My organization's site does the exact same thing, and we are a privacy
professional association[2]. Very few, even among our membership, care about
the cookies, but it is still important to comply with the law.

[1][http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electron...](http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx)

[2]<https://privacyassociation.org>

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Zak
The idea is kind of cool, but it seems like it might be a solution in search
of a problem. Installing windows that don't open or choosing not to open
windows that do is as much a cultural issue as a technical one. People used to
air conditioning may not be satisfied with an office that's only _almost_ the
temperature they want.

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fnordfnordfnord
I thought this was going to be about DEVAP
[http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature...](http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature_id=1531)
Which can't get here fast enough on the Gulf Coast. Open a window? No way man,
only a few days per year.

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scottshea
I would love to see how this would work here in Phoenix in the summer. While
it is aimed at temperate climates, if it is able to reduce the AC consumption
here it might be worth it. First Solar in Tempe designed some shade screens
into their building that open/close with the sun's movement. A skin like this
might be a more practical solution.

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pseut
The link title's more than a little misleading: the material is supposedly
"breathable," __"human," __and "skin-like". (Adding a hyphen to make it
"human-skin-like," which I assume is what was intended, isn't much better).
From that description, I was imagining something kind of disgusting, not
strips of metal.

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pseut
Just noticed that the title's been changed since my comment.

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StacyC
I am very glad to learn of the Humans Invent website — I was not aware of it.
I love to read about innovation, science and the like. It reminds me that in
the midst of many challenges in the world there is great work going on that
could address some very important issues.

Long live human ingenuity!

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rwhitman
The video of her TEDx talk was worth the watch. I'm a little skeptical of how
practical this would be for widespread use, but I find the concept pretty
exciting

