💚 Nature-Inspired Climate-Friendly ACs 🐜
Affiliate Disclosure
Hey fellow impactful ninja ?
You may have noticed that Impactful Ninja is all about providing helpful information to make a positive impact on the world and society. And that we love to link back to where we found all the information for each of our posts.
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First and foremost, because we believe that they add value to you. For example, when we wrote a post about the environmental impact of long showers, we came across an EPA recommendation to use WaterSense showerheads. So we linked to where you can find them. Or, for many of our posts, we also link to our favorite books on that topic so that you can get a much more holistic overview than one single blog post could provide.
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First, and most importantly, we still only recommend products that we believe add value for you.
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What does this mean for me personally?
You may have noticed by the way Impactful Ninja is operated that money is not the driving factor behind it. It is a passion project of mine and I love to share helpful information with you to make a positive impact on the world and society. However, it's a project in that I invest a lot of time and also quite some money.
Eventually, my dream is to one day turn this passion project into my full-time job and provide even more helpful information. But that's still a long time to go.
Stay impactful,
Happy Tuesday 👋
Here are the impactful insights that I have for you today:
- Climate-friendly ACs inspired by termites 🐜
- Music for coral reefs 🪸
- World population day 👶
- And more… 💚
Can you feel the heat climate change is bringing us this summer?
Just in the last few days, we saw the hottest days on record again—a trend that seems to continue virtually every single year for the past too many years.
And while I generally love summer, at the moment I’m rather feeling happy taking cover in the shade or in cooler buildings.
But then, most of these buildings still run traditional ACs to control their temperature. And ACs account for ~4% of global GHG emissions…
That’s why I’m especially happy to share this week’s story of the week about nature-inspired and climate-friendly AC solutions with you!
🐜 Nature’s Architects Inspire Climate-Smart Buildings: Termite Mounds Pave the Way for Energy-Efficient Air Conditioning
In a fascinating intersection of biology and architecture, researchers from Lund University in Sweden have turned to an unlikely source of inspiration for climate-smart buildings: termites.
These tiny insects are known for their impressive mounds, which boast a sophisticated ventilation system that maintains and regulates temperature and humidity.
The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Materials, explores the intricate interior of termite mounds, which consist of thousands of interconnected channels, tunnels, and air chambers:
- These structures capture wind energy to “breathe,” exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide with the surroundings.
- The researchers propose a similar structure for buildings to facilitate indoor climate control.
This innovative approach could redefine the future of climate control in buildings, offering greater energy efficiency and a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
The new design aims to control the airflow in buildings in a way that is significantly more energy-efficient and climate-smart than traditional air conditioning, which uses the bulk flow principle, normally driven by fans:
- Instead, the researchers propose developing systems that are turbulent, dynamic, and variable, controlled by very small equipment, and requiring minor energy provision.
- The mechanisms depend on creating complex internal geometries, which is only possible using 3D printing.
This technology adds value to the built environment, creating sustainable architecture that would not have been possible otherwise.
However, the challenge lies in the complexity of the design. The mechanisms depend on creating complex internal geometries, which is only possible using 3D printing.
Despite the 3D-printing dependency, the potential benefits of this termite-inspired design are immense: They offer a new perspective on how we can harness the power of nature to create more sustainable and energy-efficient buildings.
📢 More Good News…
🌳 Legislation to save the Joshua tree: California has recently passed legislation that will create a conservation fund for the Joshua tree to prevent extinction in the coming years. A huge victory that will hopefully set a good precedent for preservation efforts in the state.
🪸 Music for coral reef: A group of snorkelers put on an underwater concert by the Florida Keys, broadcast by a local radio station, to raise awareness for the desecration of coral reefs in the world’s oceans. This is a very important cause and shows the power of music in awareness.
🖥️ Four-day work week found to be eco-friendly: Besides all the productivity and mental health benefits of the four-day work week, it has also been found to be better for the environment, by reducing transportation emissions and office maintenance. This is great news for companies that want to help their carbon footprint and their employees’ wellness.
👶 Event of the Day: World Population Day
Did you know that today, July 11, is World Population Day? This day was founded by the UN in 1990 to raise awareness about the world’s population and its effect on the environment and world politics. It is an important landmark in the acknowledgement of population as an impactful phenomenon, and a turning point in concerns about world overpopulation. With the strain we have seen human beings put on the environment, it’s important that we acknowledge the impact the population can have.
Below are our favorite charities that are especially relevant to this event:
- 9 Best Charities That Fight for Education Globally
- 10 Best Charities That Fight for Clean Water
- 10 Best Charities That Fight to Protect Our Environment
📜 This Week in History
🚉 July 11, 1848: London opens Waterloo Station, one of the biggest train stations in the city to this day. Waterloo Station was integral in the early stages of London’s tube network.
🎓 July 11, 1877: Kate Edger becomes the first woman in the British Empire to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. This was an important landmark in the fight for women’s access to education.
✍️ July 11, 1960: Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” was published. This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is considered a classic of American literature.
💭 Quote of the Week
“Trains are wonderful…. To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches and rivers, in fact, to see life.”
— Agatha Christie
Share the news with your friends to make a bigger positive impact on the world and society together!
Stay impactful 💚
Dennis (Founder & Chief Ninja)
