Here’s a twist: Adding zigzags to walls could help cool an overheated building, even as global temperatures rise.
Researchers devised a new, electricity-free design for vertical walls that can cool the building more efficiently than conventional walls. These zigzags, just a few centimeters wide, can reduce daily average wall temperatures by a couple degrees Celsius, the team reports August 9 in Nexus.
Buildings currently consume about 40 percent of global energy and account for over a third of global carbon dioxide emissions, a large fraction of which comes from energy-intensive air conditioning (SN: 10/24/23). So researchers have hunted for ways to reduce that energy load with designs that can
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