You can’t bring your AC to space, unfortunately, but innovative flow boiling and condensation research might lead to lighter, more efficient heating and cooling on spacecraft.
Frost can wreak havoc on a heat pump system and eliminating this risk is a key step in their widespread adoption here in Canada.
(Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen via AP)
Heat pumps are essential for the large-scale adoption of more carbon friendly heating systems and recent research suggests a way forward for reducing one of the technology’s biggest hurdles — frost.
Extreme heat can affect how well machines function, and the fact that many machines give off their own heat doesn’t help.
AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar
People aren’t the only ones harmed by heat waves. The hotter it gets, the harder it is for machines to keep their cool.
Just generating heat is not enough. We must also capture, store, and utilize waste heat year-round and especially in the winter months.
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
As the drive towards electrification advances, one fact seems clear: it is far easier to reuse waste heat for our homes and businesses than it is to generate it anew.
Many office buildings have been left empty since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Policies that encourage the use of low-carbon technology like heat pumps can help motivate residents to decarbonize their homes.
Buildings consume more energy when empty or partially occupied for extended periods because they are designed to depend on human interactions.
(Shutterstock)
A lot of federal money is now available for making school buildings healthier. Two environmental health experts explain how school districts can best use it.
Weatherization and new windows are big money and energy savers.
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Residents of group homes and long-term care are at high risk for COVID-19. But an important aspect has been left out of Public Health Ontario’s guidance for these facilities: indoor air quality.
Toronto Public Health’s tool kit for COVID-19 prevention in congregate living settings contains few references to ventilation, air filtration and other measures to prevent airborne transmission.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Because COVID-19 is airborne, we can’t know if the shelter system is as safe as it should be without seeing metrics related to ventilation, filtration and occupancy.
Heat pumps are the technology of choice for heating and cooling buildings more efficiently and with fewer carbon emissions than furnaces and air conditioning.
We’ve learned much more about the novel coronavirus over the last few months, including that most spreading events occur inddoors.
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As the coronavirus pandemic continues, and the colder weather approaches, new mathematical models are needed to study changing social behaviours and indoor spaces.
Open windows are the easiest way to ventilate a room.
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Good ventilation can reduce the risk of catching coronavirus. An environmental engineer explains how to know if enough outside air is getting into a room and what to do if ventilation is bad.
Everyone has a different ideal temperature at any given time. It could be more comfortable to monitor people’s body temperatures and adjust heating and cooling in response.