

Ask HN: What natural air-conditioning solutions are there? - oceanician

The Romans aparently had a natural air-conditioning solution: 
http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/surv/aircond.htm<p>Also, a mate reported that Madagascar has empty 'open' rooms on one side of the house to help with keeping things cool.<p>With everyone complaining about their office being too warm at the moment I wondered what solutions people have crazy or otherwise?
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bdfh42
Where I live in the Dordogne in France houses (and outbuildings) are
traditionally built with high steeply sloped roofs to create an air space at
the top of the house to collect the hot air in summer - allowing cooler air to
fill the rooms below.

In addition we have external shutters on all of the windows and these are
closed on the sunny side of the house. With an insect screen on the window you
can the leave the window open as the shutters are not air tight so they allow
a gently breeze to enter each room.

Also it is worth pointing out that the walls of my house are stone (60cm
thick) and these act as a great heat sink.

It will probably hit 35C this afternoon but the house will remain cool.

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kranner
Persian windcatchers.

See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher>

And they are huge, try to find pictures with humans to get an idea of the
scale. One day I hope to make it to Yazd to see the real thing.

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thecircusb0y
Freezer ziplock bag full of ice to go around your neck will cool your core
down quick. You can also just regularly goto the faucet and rinse your wrists
and neck with cold water to help cool your body down as well. I live on the
river, so I keep the windows open for the breeze and the blinds down to block
sunlight. I've heard of constructing a water tank that fits to your windows,
and what happens is the sun heats the water up over the course of the day, but
still lets water in, and then at night when its cool outside, the windows
maintain an even temperature releasing heat. I know some people do this in
their kitchen windows using clear glass bottles filled with water stacked on
top of eachother to fill the window.

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1331
Buckminster Fuller [1] did quite a bit of research on natural cooling and
figured out how to cool buildings using Berhoulli's principle [2].
Unfortunately, I am unable to find any good references online, so you may have
to chase such information down in books. :)

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller>

[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoullis_principle>

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ljf
Lots of plants, loads of them, all well watered.

Blinds down but windows open (if there is a breeze).

Dressing for the weather - looks of thin cotton. Shoes off. Drink lots of
water.

Move somewhere cool ;)

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babobear
Not a form of AC necessarily but I know Chinese people put straw woven mats on
chairs and on the floor to sit/sleep on when there's a lack of AC to help keep
cool

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bitslayer
In dry climates Swamp Coolers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_cooler> work
well.

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ww520
Girls waving large fans.

