Idea Of Being Energy Efficient

Hi friends,

I hope you are doing well. I hope that this pandemic hasn't extinguish that flame hope for a better future. News are getting scarier by day. Best for us to block the negativity and focus on the things within our control. Practicing good hygiene, having a still mind and always on the move making progress in your everyday routine. 

In the spirit of making progress, I'm here today to write about some ideas that I've been having in mind. Ideas that spurs based on real life situation that forced me to think about what I can do to make everything a little better. 

The weather is getting hotter here in Malaysia and it seems like the heatwave is never ending. I can feel that it's getting worse because I've been sweating just by laying in my bed. As such, this has got me thinking, "Why is my room so hot?"

The most prominent reason that threw itself at me was that my room has poor ventilation. It only has one large window but that window is most of the time kept closed. Since the window is just beside my bed, keeping it open when I'm asleep would be a huge safety hazard. That's why, I have came up with several solutions to overcome this problem. I may or may not act on this solution because I don't have the financial means for that. But I do like to think about this because it gives me some sense of satisfaction.

Since the biggest constraint in this situation is the financial means, lets start with the easiest most cost effective ways of solving the heat problem in my room. Then, we'll gradually proceed with other potential solutions that could be better than the cheaper alternative.

1. Putting an exhaust fan. The purpose of an exhaust fan is to draw hot air out from your room. So ideally, an exhaust fan should be placed at a higher level and facing towards the side of the building with the largest wind blow. Hot air rises and thus the exhaust fan will suck the air out from the room and be carried away by the wind. In theory, this should at least balance out the temperature inside and outside of the room. If we want to go a step better, you can opt for a dual direction version of an exhaust fan. Not only it can suck air out from the room, it could also suck cold air in from the outside at night time. The best way to operate this is to attach a timer that automatically changes direction of air intake every 12 hours.
2. Evaporative cooler system. I got this inspiration after buying a mini air cooler. The idea behind this evaporative cooler is that there's a damped layer of honeycomb textured paper behind the blade of a fan. So when the blade spins, it pulls the "coldness" from the damped honeycomb layer. Thus, blowing cool air. This takes a step higher than an exhaust fan because there's a step incorporated that tries to introduce cool air in a room. However, the challenge on operating an evaporative cooler is that it needs water to dampen the honeycomb layer for the presence of cool air. Hence, for the system to be fully automated, it needs to be connected to a water source where a buoy can control the amount of water in its tank. Slightly complicated but works significantly well than a regular fan. There's also the aspect of ensuring the water is cooled for maximum cooling effect. Easiest way is to put cool substance such as frozen bottle of liquid and change it from time to time. If you'd like to push this idea a little bit further, you can create another system for creating this chilled water by running the water underground, storing it in a tank, let the heat from the water dissipate into the ground, then pumps the relatively chilled water back up into the evaporative cooler tank. Another aspect to think about when installing an evaporative cooling system is to decide on the cool air distribution into the room. Will it be through a duct being wrapped around the walls of the room or from a central opening to the middle of the room? Considerations such as air volumes, dead zones and cooling time should be examined here. Personally, since my room is small, a single blowing vent is enough to keep the room cool with the expense of air circulation. However, a simple wall mount fan could easily increase air circulation.
3. Mini air conditioner. Air conditioner is pretty self explanatory but I don't prefer the typical split units you see in the market. If I could, I want an AC that doesn't consume a lot of power and it should be as efficient as possible. But usually the only logical AC that fits this mold is a portable one and even then, it still has its limitations such as slow cooling effect relative. 

This whole post might seem an overkill for a simple problem. One could easily put in a good quality ceiling fan and get it over with. However, my dream is to have my own system of ventilation that perform its function well while being energy efficient. I dream of connecting it to a solar system that comes with huge packs of batteries. For the time being, I dream to have a separate solar system where it could just be a few panels hooked up to a solar generator. I feel like that could be a good start before having a total solar system integrated with a house and the grid. 

That's all the thoughts I have to write today. Thanks for reading, friends. Stay safe!