heat tagged posts

As lockdown requirements ease, COVID-19 is changing the way we use indoor spaces. That presents challenges for those who manage those spaces, from homes to offices and factories.

Not least among these challenges is heating, ventilation and cooling (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning—HVAC), which is the largest consumer of energy in American homes and commercial buildings. There’s a need for smarter, more flexible climate control that keeps us comfortable without heating and cooling entire empty buildings.

Now, a group of researchers at the University of Michigan has developed a solution that could provide more efficient, more personalized comfort, completely doing away with the wall-mounted thermostats we’re accustomed to...

A new cooling vest for sports athletes may ensure everyone can compete safely in sweltering summer conditions such as the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics. Strategies to cope with body heat in sports is a pressing issue. The Tokyo Olympics will be held in the hot and muggy Japanese summer where the ambient temperature is expected to be above 33°C. Athletes have to worry about performing under pressure of the high-stakes competition but also now have to deal with a very hot and humid climate...

As the moon Europa’s icy shell is pushed and pulled by Jupiter’s gravity, it heaves up and down. That process creates enough heat, scientists think, to create a global subsurface ocean on Europa. Experiments by Brown University researchers suggests that this heating process, known as tidal dissipation, creates more heat in ice that scientists have generally assumed. The insight could help scientists model the thickness of Europa’s icy shell. Credit: NASA/JPL

Jupiter’s moon Europa is under a constant gravitational assault. As it orbits, Europa’s icy surface heaves and falls with the pull of Jupiter’s gravity, creating enough heat to support a global ocean beneath the moon’s solid shell...

In this time-lapse series of photos, progressing from top to bottom, a coating of sucrose (ordinary sugar) over a wire made of carbon nanotubes is lit at the left end, and burns from one end to the other. As it heats the wire, it drives a wave of electrons along with it, thus converting the heat into electricity. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

The batteries that power smartphones,computers and electric cars, are mostly made of toxic materials such as lithium that can be difficult to dispose of and have limited global supplies. Now, researchers have come up with an alternative system for generating electricity, which harnesses heat and uses no metals or toxic materials.

The new approach is based on a discovery in 2010 by Prof Michael Strano in Chemical Engineering, MIT...