Sharing this post from mildyinteresting Community because I think you’ll be interested in it over here in the solarpunk community
Sorry if I have accidentally reposted it
Sharing this post from mildyinteresting Community because I think you’ll be interested in it over here in the solarpunk community
Sorry if I have accidentally reposted it
Looking at this image got me thinking, we should really use natural technology first amd supplement it with artificial technology as that would save more power and lower maintenance demands
Swamp coolers are great for low humidity environments, and we continue to use them there. Unfortunately, they’re not great where humidity gets high.
However, this is not a simple swamp cooler - it’s a ground heat sink system powered by natural convection.
If it were just a swamp cooler - yes. I have experimented with pure swamp coolers and they’re not very effective near a sea.
All technology, by definition, is artificial. But there is a continuum of environmental impact depending on the technology and environment—digging a hole in the dirt with a wooden stick has negligible effects on the health of the local ecosystem; digging a hole in the dirt with a nuclear pulse device not so much.
But nuclear pulse devices are excellent for propulsion if you need to move stuff between planets, and have negligible environmental impact in the already radiation-soaked vaccuum of space.
Probably passive (taking advantage of energy and natural laws already present in the environment, like wind and convection) vs. active (making use of secondary forms of power like electricity, burning fuels, etc.) is a better distinction. If all you gotta do is e.g. at most open some vents at one time of day and close them at another, and not rely on the delivery of external power sources from human industry, calling it “passive” is pretty fair.
I like this passive vs. active distinction. A sailboat vs. a motor ship. And a hybrid approach that uses naturally occuring energy flows when feasible; artificial energy sources when not.
Generally the issue is space/foot print. The efficiency energy wise is usually pretty good, but the amount of space vs what area gets covered (and this is forgetting bells and whistles like actually controlling the temperature) is usually abysmal. This only works on a small scale for few people that are willing to forgo accuracy and control.
Thank-you for commenting that because I hadn’t considered that
Though I do think tempreture control can be done with technology supplementation
For example having technology read the tempreture in an area and then close a vent to stop natural cold or hot air once the desired tempreture is reached
Edit: and have technology supplement cool pr warm air if there isn’t enough of that from natural air
And I am wondering how much the air tower itself can be made smaller while retaining function
How do you define “natural” vs “artificial” here, and what’s to say modern air conditioning doesn’t already build on what we know from old methods?
What do you think they could have meant?
I don’t know.
The post is an example.
The question remains: what makes this natural and AC artificial?
Right… And you don’t see any glaring differences between to two?
There are differences, obviously, but I don’t know which of those differences would make one of them natural. Nature didn’t create either of them; they are both man-made constructions.
But using your intuitions, which one do you think the person responded to above meant as more natural?
Probably the one that doesn’t use electricity, right?
It feels like being obtuse for no reason.
What I’m talking about is natural technology like the air cooling tower in the image
And artificial technology that’s made using electricity and circuit boards
I do believe relying on natural stuff and supplementing it with technology to enhance and / or expand upon a feature of a technology or to serve as a feature that cannot be attained by natural means
Technology supplementation should only be really used when necessary
But, that won’t make NEARLY as much money for everybody that wants to sell you shitty solutions.