The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

Re:The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human t... by WillDaSilva on Tuesday August 10, 2021 @10:42PM (#28137326)

Swamp coolers do not work in high humidity. Running cool water from underground over oneself works, but is unsustainable and impractical. Going underground to someplace cool is also sometimes an option that does not require electricity, but is often impractical and highly situational.

Ultimately all that really works in our modern world at scale in such a heat wave is powered air conditioning, so ensuring that electrical power is not interrupted during such an event is of paramount importance if we are to avoid this new sort of natural disaster.

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Re:The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human t... by cma on Wednesday August 11, 2021 @02:19AM (#28138675)

You could potentially heat up a dessicant to dry it out and use that indoors to survive the humidity without having to go underground or have AC.

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Re:The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human t... by WillDaSilva on Wednesday August 11, 2021 @09:52AM (#28141955)

Interesting idea, though I'm not aware of any desiccants that would be appropriate for the scale we'd need to operate at here. Silica gel, for instance, wouldn't work because there's too much water to handle. Dehumidifiers could be used instead, but they heat up the air as they dry it out. I believe desiccants also heat up the air, but only slightly. Maybe they would heat up the air a significant amount if they were removing enough water from it for this scenario.

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