The system works by making ice at night, when lower power usage means energy is cheaper and lower temperatures mean less power is required to freeze water. A company called Ice Energy manufactures the Ice Bear, a unit designed to work alongside a traditional air conditioner. HipChat did an amazing job of building support for things like Growl notifications and Dock badge notifications into the web interface, and seem to want to make the site work as well in Fluid as it does through AIR. So people who already enjoy hot water or who want to try a simple method for improving their health should feel assured that they are benefitting from it. A novel method of air conditioning is taking root among some of the world’s most powerful corporations, and it uses the simple power of ice. Long, Colleen. “Ice Blocks Used to Chill Buildings.” Associated Press. Keim, Brandon. “Giant Blocks of Ice: A 21st Century Air Conditioner.” Wired Science. Liang, Linus. “Giant “ice cube” cools campus.” The Stanford Daily.

At night, subzero ammonia — a common refrigerant — runs through the pipes, freezing the water into giant blocks of ice. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse now use massive ice blocks instead of traditional air-conditioning systems in some of their offices. An estimated 3,000 facilities around the world use ice-based cooling systems. When the facility was first built in the mid-1970s, it skipped the ice stage, instead directly cooling water that was piped through campus. It will be the first of its kind in the United States. Fortunately, the European Union outlawed the refrigerants used in some old air conditioners that harm the ozone layer, and they will be illegal in the United States in 2010. But the booming economies of India and China and the accompanying rise in living conditions in those countries now means that millions of people are buying energy-draining, ozone-layer-depleting air-conditioning units. The system is not only more environmentally friendly but also saves big companies like Goldman Sachs, which put an ice cooling system in its new flagship office, millions of dollars in utility bills. Should more environmentally friendly cooling methods replace all conventional air conditioners? Ice-cooling systems do more than save on electricity bills; by using power at night, they ease strain on already overtaxed electrical grids — a process known as “load shifting” — using energy during non-peak hours.

Ice Bear creates a block of ice at night that cools the refrigerant during the day, rather than running the refrigerant through a condenser (at peak hours) that requires a lot of energy. Pilots and aircrew could log over 1,000 “flight hours” a year and earn a 40 or higher numeral on their Air Medal ribbon. Hundreds of thousan­ds of people suffer from renal failure each year and undergo dialysis or await a kidney transplant. Today, 795 million people worldwide lack enough food to eat. The cooling equipment requires a lot of space and a significant upfront investment — Credit Suisse paid $3 million for theirs — though the investment presumably pays for itself over time. Good insulation and situating your house to take advantage of natural wind currents can lessen or eliminate the need for a cooling system, particularly if you live in a moderate climate. Cleaners need to be used according to manufacturer instructions to avoid contamination. When the heat loss is reduced, the load on the existing heating or cooling system automatically gets reduced.

The ice cooling system is intriguing and energy efficient, but it’s not entirely original. In Credit Suisse’s system, the ice forms overnight, and as it melts during the day, fans blow cold air into the cooling system and throughout the building. Like the large system used by Credit Suisse, the Ice Bear is designed to run indoors and at night, when temperatures and energy costs are lower. The larger the difference between nighttime and daytime temperatures is, the greater the energy savings. If yours is too big, you’ll be constantly turning it on and off, wasting energy in the process. Hot Water Bottle/Electric Blanket Instead of turning up the thermostat, you can invest in an electric blanket or a hot water bottle. For example, a transverse motion of the right arm can lead to a “cut shot” to the left corner of the opponent’s goal or a “right wall under” (bank off the right wall, into the right corner of the opponent’s goal). By incorporating open spaces into the fabric of cities, we can create healthier environments that promote renal function and improve the quality of life for countless individuals. All of the products that we use are of the finest quality to ensure a prolonged life and increased performance levels over time.