AC’s Future: Portable and Personal

A new prototype from the folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows us how air conditioning might change in the next few decades.

It’s all part of the Senseable City Project, which reimagines how cities can better operate by taking advantage of the growing popularity of hand-held electronics and wearables that stand to change any metropolis as people make their way through it.

One aspect of the Senseable City project is known as Cloud Cast, an array of misting rods that are installed on the ceiling of a walkway, bus stop shelter, promenade or other public space. Not a new concept, to be sure, especially for those who have visited locations in the desert Southwest, such as Phoenix, where misters are in use in outdoor shopping areas, among other places.

Here’s the key difference: With Cloud Cast, the misters operate by using sensors that track your location as well as how quickly you are walking and then send signals to the misters to let loose as you parade along.

Of course, this method might not work in highly congested cities, where the movements of too many people would make it difficult if not impossible to adequately regulate the mist. Still, the idea behind Cloud Cast could help to save both water and energy since the spray would only activate when needed. The theory partly grew out of another initiative that used lamps, motors and motion tracking to supply heat to only those areas of a room where it would be needed.

And there may be hope for an urban deployment of Cloud Cast: Just recently, the system debuted in Dubai, a metropolis that has earned a reputation for its extremely high temperatures as well as its significant energy use.

For now, we may just need to be content with the Portable AC options we already have. Contact AC World to discuss your portable options today!