Singapore Solves A Serious Energy Issue – If only Bloomberg would get to it as well

Now if the Bloombergs of the world would tackle their issues, maybe the Earth would make some progress.

Solving the Global Cooling Problem

As air-conditioning sucks up more and more energy, Singapore finds a greener way to keep cool.

In Singapore, close to the Equator, temperatures regularly rise above 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) — but inside the soaring glass greenhouses of Gardens by the Bay, the country’s award-winning botanical park, it’s a pleasant 24 degrees.

The daffodils and tulips of the flower dome, along with two dozen nearby towers that are normally full of bankers, shoppers, residents, hotel guests and gamblers, are chilled by what is probably the world’s largest underground district cooling system. It’s a giant air conditioner that is attempting to solve one of the biggest problems of global warming: How to stay cool.

(moving right along)

That means a massive drain on power — more than a third of the world’s electricity could end up being used to cool buildings and vehicles — with an equivalent jump in carbon emissions if, as is the case now, most of that extra generating capacity relies on fossil fuels.

The rise of global cooling has prompted research and development into ways to make systems more efficient using heat pumps, solar-power, evaporative coolers and other technologies. One of the most effective is to build a system that uses a large central plant that can cool several city blocks.

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Go there and read a lot. More next week.

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