Filed under: Etc., Green Culture, Green Daily
Air conditioning? Bah! Use an ice-cold T-shirt instead
Ahhh, summer. The high gas prices, the sweltering heat. Nothing like hopping into your air conditioned ride for a bit of a cool off. Of course, using the AC can, in some situations, decrease your MPG by 5 to 25 percent. And with those high gas prices, an alternative has got to be available, right? Sweating is one, and automakers like Mitsubishi are working on more efficient AC systems. But what if you want to cool down now without using your old and inefficient system? How about an ice shirt?
Available for athletes who need to keep cool on hot days, ice vests use, well, ice packs packed in a vest or a shirt to cool a body. DIYers over at Ecomodder have been discussing using ice shirts in cars and other homebrew alternatives to avoid cranking up the AC. A real cursory search finds commercial ice vests available in the $90 to $220 range. More options on the Ecomodder discussion block include beaded seat covers (for more airflow behind the body), portable AC units, and window tinting. Thanks to Darin for the tip!
[Source: Ecomodder]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James Bowe 1:24PM (4/28/2008)
how about a t-shirt that plugs into the car's a/c? So the car cools of the shirt instead of the entire interior of the car. That'd be pretty efficient. I'll bet Zap already has some prototypes that we'll never see. Tesla? Aptera? Anyone? How bout it???
Reply
Eleventeen 11:05PM (4/29/2008)
This reminds me of what we used to do in Boy Scout camp during summer camp, we used to take our caps, get em wet, then throw em in the freezer in the trading post for about half an hour or so.
Phew, I tell you what, when you're in the middle of a Florida summer and it's 100 degrees and damn near 100 percent humidity, a nice cold hat takes most of your worries away.
Skin contact is a much more efficient way of cooling than blowing air around anyhow, I'm surprised it's taken this long for a concept like this to come out.
Reply
dskool 1:13AM (5/05/2008)
Ok, it's our show time :) This product is personal cooling system! And now it has the latest version with more dense tubes which will provide us more comfortable feeling. As hot summer is coming, I really would like to do something for our readers. Thus I am summarizing 5 points which could give my readers a brief knowledge about cooling vest.
1 Constant cooling: 4-6hours constant cooling with only 1.5-2KGS weight. (As we all know key point of racing is less weight)
2 It uses batteries as power resource (That means no effect for using energy of car)
3 Quick fitting connect bag system and cooling vest (If any emergency, it has no effect for escaping)
4 Both mounted and dismounted available. (Suitable for different users and no effect for movement)
5 Drinking ice beverage available (The unique function of the world! I 'm proud sure of it)
So if any questions, please feel free to ask me at vivian@koolcn.com or you can get more information from www.dskool.com
Hope everyone has a nice day! :)
Reply
dskool 1:16AM (5/05/2008)
Ok, it's our show time :) This product is personal cooling system! And now it has the latest version with more dense tubes which will provide us more comfortable feeling. As hot summer is coming, I really would like to do something for our readers. Thus I am summarizing 5 points which could give my readers a brief knowledge about cooling vest.
1 Constant cooling: 4-6hours constant cooling with only 1.5-2KGS weight. (As we all know key point of racing is less weight)
2 It uses batteries as power resource (That means no effect for using energy of car)
3 Quick fitting connect bag system and cooling vest (If any emergency, it has no effect for escaping)
4 Both mounted and dismounted available. (Suitable for different users and no effect for movement)
5 Drinking ice beverage available (The unique function of the world! I 'm proud sure of it)
So if any questions, please feel free to ask me at vivian@koolcn.com or you can get more information from www.dskool.com
Hope everyone has a nice day! :)
Reply