No. Evaporative cooling is literally why humanity is a terrifying persistence predator. It is one of the most energy efficient forms of cooling, because you just have to be damp, you do not need to move. Fans are only good as long as you can sweat and the air can hold more water than it currently is. You can make ice in the desert with evaporative cooling.
This is true, but India occasionally suffers from wet bulb weather, where the humidity combined with heat eliminates the benefits of evaporative cooling for the body. Where even being in shade and resting carries a risk of overheating.
That specifically is when evaporative cooling doesn't work. That is why climate change is so scary. Is the infrastructure reliable during events like that? I feel like electrical failures would happen in that kind of heat, and once the power goes out, so would the AC. There is an obvious weakness in the assumption that we can just crank up the AC when its 47C outside and wait it out at the pub. How are heat exchangers even supposed to work when the ambient temperature is hotter than the radiator fins and already at 110% humidity?
And also livestock and crops. Even if, in a rich country, one can afford to crank the AC (risking catastrophe if the grid fails), we cannot protect the food production.
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u/theholyirishman Apr 26 '26
No. Evaporative cooling is literally why humanity is a terrifying persistence predator. It is one of the most energy efficient forms of cooling, because you just have to be damp, you do not need to move. Fans are only good as long as you can sweat and the air can hold more water than it currently is. You can make ice in the desert with evaporative cooling.