Non-electric cooling

http://permaculturetokyo.blogspot.com/2006/11/passive-cooling.html

This permaculture blog site has info on cooling without electricity. It looks interesting, and I intend to try a few of the simple projects, like the zeer pots.

The author does suggest that the aridity or humidity of the climate will affect results (best results are in arid locations), but if you lost power for a week or so in summer, maybe some of the ideas would provide some improvement, if not perfection.

Please keep in mind that it is for cooling, not refrigeration.

I am also wondering if the solar heater concept would be a way to provide heat in winter during a power outage (as long as the sun was shining, I guess). I know heat siphons do work, but how to but them to work as an addition/in place of electric heat?

I need to do more research.

Sue

Who knows, it just might work. Or at least help a little bit...

i have used a "zeer pot" before, altough we used our SS billycans for the job, probably not as effective. Because SS doens't allow watervapor to pass. But it does make a big diffrence.

Yes, water holds a great deal of heat. You can use it to capture heat from the sun, which it will then radiate back during the night

I was a bit surprised to read two or three weeks ago that over the past few decades, more Californians have died from excessive heat than all other natural calamities combined. California-specific events would includes events like earthquakes, flooding, mudslides and wildfires. It's a rather hidden problem since there's no standard way of determining or recording "heat" as a major cause of death so it is mostly overlooked in reports and statistics.

Excessive heat can affect a very big area and population, and factors that increase the risk of succumbing to heat, like old age or various health conditions, like heart disease, are very common, so when I think about it, I shouldn't be surprised that heat kills so many. Even with a functioning electrical grid, many older people or people on fixed incomes just don't have or don't use air conditioning, so over several days of heat, will eventually expire. If cheap, passive methods like the ones in this blog were more common, we'd probably save a good number of lives over the years.

Thanks for the link, Sue. Although I've seen these ideas before, it's always good to be reminded of them from time to time.

My wife, for who knows what reason, does not sweat, so we really have to watch her in the heat. If her face starts turning red, she is borderline heatstroke. I wonder how many others are non-sweaters???