• I_Miss_Daniel@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Aircon plus solar panels for the win? Other than the initial manufacturing cost, it’s a fairly good solution.

    For those with a limited budget in a dry heat area, a large portable Swamp box and a single panel may be enough. Needs access to water though…

    • Metallibus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Aircon plus solar panels for the win? Other than the initial manufacturing cost, it’s a fairly good solution.

      Can’t tell if you’re thinking this is anything more than an emergency stopgap for people that can’t bear living in their home, but… All A/C does is spend energy to move the heat back outside, and also produce some more heat on the side. So it isn’t a sustainable solution or fix, even if your energy generation is somehow perfect.

      And swamp boxes are basically just a fan with extra steps that puts a miniscule amount of heat into the water. They feel a tiny bit better, but they’re not really fixing anything either. That warm water still needs to go somewhere etc.

      • I_Miss_Daniel@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I disagree on the efficacy of evaporative coolers. When I lived in Bourke, they were excellent. Typically roof mounted models such as these. Very low power usage for whole house cooling, but the massive caveat is they don’t work well in humid places.

        A simple portable one like the Convair Classic will only really help whoever’s near it, but at under 80 watts of power it’ll run off even the cheapest inverter and car battery in an emergency.

        Solar panels make the cost of using a split system practically nothing during daylight hours, with little net additional heat created in the process.

        • Metallibus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          My point is these are just making you feel better at best. Even a perfectly efficient split system running off a perfectly efficient power source which was manufactured out of thin air without having any effect on climate change is still moving heat around. None of these address the core problem with the climate. Even at perfect efficiency they’re just building you a small bubble to feel better in.