Friday, May 7, 2010

Cool Vests

So I've been furiously researching more on heat stress since yesterday's post.  More on that later, but in the meantime, I did want to report that I found that there does exist a solution to this problem.  I had never heard of this, but there are companies that make ice-vests and cool-vests.  For example, these guys make the one above.  I'm sure smart readers will get the idea - it's too hot outside to safely function, so you pull the gel packs out of the freezer, stick them in the handy pockets, and step outside.  Little bit like astronauts putting on their space suits before stepping outside the space craft.  But not so inconvenient as that!

They even make a stylish camo number:


and ones for dogs:


Presumably, as the planet heats up, they'll also be able to introduce similar products for cows, pigs, and sheep.

So all is not lost even in the worst case - thought you'd be relieved to know.
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4 comments:

  1. BrianMay 7, 2010 at 2:01 PM

    Yes, I'm sure those freezers will be working wonderfully when the grid is trying to cool 5B people with their A/C on. No doubt it will be able to handle that flawlessly, based on the yearly escapades we go through every time we get a half dozen 90+ days in August in the US.

    No, seriously, could happen. ;-)

    Brian

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  2. daedalus2uMay 7, 2010 at 5:51 PM

    I think a better solution would be sorbent based evaporative cooling. You wouldn't need refrigeration, you could use solar energy to dehydrate the desicant packs.

    I think you use dehumidification to keep conditions inside livable, not refrigeration. The energy cost should be much less and solar energy can be used for dehumidification more easily than it can be used for refrigeration.

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  3. daedalus2uMay 7, 2010 at 5:54 PM

    The major problem is going to be reliability. If the cooling or dehumidification fails, people will die on a massive scale in hours.

    Dehumidification capacity can be stored as dry dessicant. Power to circulate air can be local solar, with batteries.

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  4. DavidMay 8, 2010 at 5:23 PM

    Another product that would be helpful to the ice jackets is one that uses crystals that help cool the body.They include neck ties and hats.

    Examples of them here. All you need is cool water.

    http://www.coolhats.com.au/super_cooler.html


    http://www.coolhats.com.au/neck_tie_coolers.html

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