Self-Cooling Windows Could Help Beat Summer Heat

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By Vignesh Ramachandran2013-08-11 20:03:45 UTC

If you've racked up sky-high electricity bills this summer from using all that air conditioning, there may be an alternative solution that could stop heat from entering your home via one major source: windows.

Researchers at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed a design for self-cooling windows that is modeled after the human body's circulatory system. Our body's blood vessels near the skin's surface dilate when we're feeling hot, which allows more blood to circulate, and cools us off, according to the institute. The idea is: Why not carry over that biological concept to the windows we have in our homes?

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The institute's design incorporates a network of "ultrathin channels" near the window pane, through which water can flow, and encourage heat transfer. Cool water is pumped next to the hot window, which takes away the heat, researchers said.

After working with a Broad Institute mathematician to calculate the potential for this technology, Wyss Institute researchers found that running half a soda can's worth of water in this system could cool a full-size window pane by 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The idea of using nature's lesson to create kind of a living skin on a building is a very important and promising direction for how buildings should and will be constructed in the future," Chuck Hoberman, a designer and Wyss Institute Visiting Scholar, said in a news release.

Installing self-cooling windows such as these would allow residents to stay cool, while letting in sunlight. But the Wyss Institute also said this system could help cool rooftop solar panels, "allowing them to generate electricity more efficiently."

To read more about this project, check out the researchers' report in the Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells journal.

Have you discovered any creative ways or hacks to keep your home cool this summer? Share your ideas in the comments.

WyssInstituteWindowsB Lead image: Flickr, Les Haines/Leshaines123. Secondary images: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University.