Notoriously hot city rediscovers ancient technique to help its residents stay cool
Story by Rick Kazmer
November 13, 2023
“Thousand-year-old #Persian technology could help officials in #SevilleSpain, to tackle extreme #overheating, if only modern-day politics can stay out of the way.
“City leaders are bracing for temperatures that are expected to pass 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming years. In response, they are working on a project in the city’s Isla de la Cartuja that uses a '#bioclimatic'effort to cool down, according to #UrbanInnovativeActions.
“This is not an air-conditioning system like the one you may have in your home,'Juan Luis López, an engineer and the project’s supervisor, told Bloomberg Green. 'We use natural techniques and materials to reduce temperatures.”
“The project, called #CartujaQanat, could cost around $5 million or more, funded in part by the European Union. Some of the work is already complete, with the goal of cooling the air down for the busy city.
“A Bloomberg report describes architecture that fosters breezes, fresh #GreenSpaces, and underground #aqueducts that borrow from ancient civilizations. The water flow can cool the nearby environment using air, water, and #SolarPower.
“The latter tech is fascinating, yet simple. Water is brought into underground tanks at night, where it cools. During the day, solar-powered pumps send the water through pipes, which travel by fans, creating cooler air. 'Small openings in the floor and steps allow the refreshing current to seep into the square,'all per a Bloomberg description.
“And while progress has been made, Bloomberg reports that a change in Spanish political leadership has placed the work in 'limbo.'When Bloomberg visited the site in July, the news agency reported that it was not open to the public. There was overgrown vegetation 'and piles of dried leaves.'Delayed contract bids, inflation, and other roadblocks are slowing progress as well.
“However, #Seville’s new mayor, José Luis Sanz, told Bloomberg that he supports the project, noting '[that the] impacts of #ClimateChange are more than obvious.'
“As planet overheating continues to set records, clean ways to cool populated places without adding to #AirPollution are vital. This project in Seville, which borrows from the work of ancient Persians, could be a model for other cities.
'The goal is to test the technology, to learn from it, and fine-tune it so we can replicate what works elsewhere,'López told Bloomberg.”
Apple has acknowledged user complaints that iPhone 15 and 15 Pro phones are overheating, reports Forbes, but said that contrary to speculation, it has nothing to do with the phone’s hardware design. Forbes noted an update to Instagram has already rolled out with version 302, released September 27th, to address some of the...
Replacing combustion engines with electric vehicles is an example of the folly we fall into when we fail to understand what problem we need to face.
China and India are building coal plants so as to try to get the standard of living that the West created that caused #global#overheating in the first place.
It seems likely, alas, that global overheating will continue to disrupt the earth’s systems at greater and greater catastrophic levels for the foreseeable future.
I thought buying a USB nvme case to move a #Linux installation from an old m.2 sata to a new m.2 nvme disk was a good idea but that gave me USB errors after a few minutes. Apparently the 20€ usb adapter is trash.
Will do the copy 5x slower over 1Gbps ethernet now 🤷
Still, the scenario of yours does want me to take a closer look at "recovery" / "rescue" #Linux#distro|s that one could just blindly boot into from USB/ODD/Network and have a system accessible to ssh into.
Apple blames iOS 17 bugs and apps like Instagram for making iPhone 15s run hot (www.theverge.com)
Apple has acknowledged user complaints that iPhone 15 and 15 Pro phones are overheating, reports Forbes, but said that contrary to speculation, it has nothing to do with the phone’s hardware design. Forbes noted an update to Instagram has already rolled out with version 302, released September 27th, to address some of the...