Intelligent Design

No, this isn't about fundamentalist religion stuff, rather its about houses, and in particular thermal gradients.

For whatever reason I woke up around 6:00am this morning and decided to do a recon in my attic regarding where I was going to route some wire for a new receptacle. When I cracked the hostaway open it became apparent that the attic was about 74 degrees while the living space in the house was around 80 degrees.

Q: Why aren't architects and builders taking advantage of this large night time gradient to provide essentially "free" air conditioning when it exists? The colder air would naturally want to sink and the warmer air naturally want to rise. It would seem to me all you'd need is a couple of temp sensors to detect when an advantageous temperature differential exists, and a few servo activated sliding panels in the existing A/C duct work. The mechanical and electrical stuff could easily pay for itself within 6 months on a power bill if it were installed on new construction.

posted by Purp at 08:23 AM

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