Researchers Think a Key To Cooling Cities Lies in Naples' Ancient Aqueducts (nbcnews.com) 21
In the Italian city of Naples, some climate change solutions may be as ancient as the coastal outpost itself, according to researchers who are studying how the area's historic waterways could bring relief from extreme heat as the world warms. From a report: Architects and design students in Italy and the United States are collaborating on an initiative to map ancient aqueducts and water systems in Naples. Known as the Cool City Project, the goal is to assess how this existing infrastructure -- in some cases, centuries old and hidden underground -- could combat life-threatening heat waves in one of the most densely populated parts of Europe and one of the oldest cities in the world. "Naples is sometimes called the capital of the midday sun because of where it's located in the south of Italy," said Nick De Pace, an architect and professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. "It's a dense city in an area that is already dealing with geothermal heating. And then on top of that, you have climate change."
[...] To start, the researchers are using laser-scanning technology to map Naples' extensive aqueduct system and underground canals. The idea is to examine if reviving these ancient waterways, or resurfacing them, could counter the urban heat island effect. "Daylighting portions of a canal could have a cooling effect in the summer, just like how you can feel a cooling effect from basements," De Pace said. "Then, you can also divert some of that water to new green spaces in the city where you have plants and other things to cool things down." Naples is a compelling place to test such ideas because the city already has a rich history with water, said Alexander Valentino, an architect and Cool City collaborator who is based in Naples.
[...] To start, the researchers are using laser-scanning technology to map Naples' extensive aqueduct system and underground canals. The idea is to examine if reviving these ancient waterways, or resurfacing them, could counter the urban heat island effect. "Daylighting portions of a canal could have a cooling effect in the summer, just like how you can feel a cooling effect from basements," De Pace said. "Then, you can also divert some of that water to new green spaces in the city where you have plants and other things to cool things down." Naples is a compelling place to test such ideas because the city already has a rich history with water, said Alexander Valentino, an architect and Cool City collaborator who is based in Naples.
People seem to forget Aqueducts need rain.. (Score:3)
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Which is basically true for all the "magic" solution to climate change: Details matter and the details do not pan out.
Really weaksauce article (Score:5, Interesting)
What a cool topic and yet the article was just terrible. All fluff and almost no substance at all.
There really is a lot of old world and ancient technologies. I read about a pretty cool thing called a "wind tower". It's designed to capture wind and send it downward, under a building where a pool of water is kept. The air cools and is then funneled into the structure itself keeping the inside cool. With this walls the interior can stay quite cool regardless of the outside temperature. A middle eastern technology actually. https://www.researchgate.net/f... [researchgate.net]
That's a modern day usage of it. Really cool stuff and doesn't require electricity.
So shame this article couldn't show us something cool about what is an otherwise interesting topic. Oh but don't let the utility companies know this, the last thing they want is for us to use less power. Less power used means less money made and that's no way to gouge customers.
Re: Really weaksauce article (Score:3)
Maybe there are wind towers that work that way, but I think more commonly the air comes OUT of the wind tower. The tower is shuttered for prevailing winds to suck the air out of the building. Then there would be an air exchange at ground level to an underground pool that had an opening to the outside for intake. The suction from the tower would then pull the air all the way into and over the cooling pool, up through the building, and out the top.
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I stand corrected. Yes, there is a little graphic from my link and it shows the intake at ground level and eventually the output from the top of a tower. Makes sense since hot air rises.
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Oh, just recalled the other use of a tower that I think I confused with my above reference. You can build some pretty neat pillar or tower like structures that can pull water from the air. https://spectrum.ieee.org/this... [ieee.org]
and https://www.intelligentliving.... [intelligentliving.co] both show some cool examples.
I've also read of a tower with metal pieces that basically end up sweating and the water drops down to a basin at the bottom. Obviously if the air is already fairly dry you don't get much but there is almost always some hum
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Was just going to post the same thing, surfacing old canals in the hope they fix things is a half-arsed solution at best, what they need to do is run them as qanats in conjunction with, as you say, wind towers. This system of cooling has been used for millennia in the middle east (except for the ones the Mongols destroyed in the 13th century), it's an established, proven technology.
This article reads more like "we're doing some cool archaeology, and here's a distraction to make it seem more relevant". It's
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its in the south (Score:2)
yea its at 40N same as New Jersey, Albania, and North Korea, how about you cool a city that gets hot more than one week in the summer
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A number of building were water cooled when I young. This no longer meets the expectation of the current population.
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I have spent the last 6 years worth of Christmas vacation weeks in shorts and a t-shirt spay painting a project and mowing my lawn in 80F weather and in the "northern" part of the southeastern USA which is on par with the northern parts of the middle east and India, grow a pair
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A number of building were water cooled when I young. This no longer meets the expectation of the current population.
Sure, the population no longer expects to get legionnaire's disease, although it does still happen...
Look to Iran (Score:5, Interesting)
Iran historically used wind towers and underground canals to cool their buildings. Air would be directed to pass over the underground water, then the cool air gets pushed up into buildings from underground and out the wind tower at the top.
Iran was also known to keep ice through the summer heat in these buildings called yakchals. Their construction materials (egg, mud, and plant fibers if I recall correctly) were extremely effective insulators and the shape of the building was designed to pump hot air out.
And this shit has existed for thousands of years.
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Not every city is a desert or needs to be designed for one. There are many different solutions to the heat island affect. One of the fundamental issues we have in town planning is the loss of green area. We cement the world, pave it to optimally provide no shade at all. Decent greenery not only makes a city prettier, but provides shades and cools the street.
Re: Look to Iran (Score:2)
I think most people are familiar with the effects of shade. Not as many are familiar with wind towers and differential heat pumps.
So, like a giant swamp cooler? (Score:2)
-Different strokes for different folks.
Protect the water (Score:2)
The Romans called these 'canals' (Score:2)
Cloaca.